Food52 Genius Recipe #27 Kale Salad

 

I've never been a kale fan, but haven't minded it as a small portion of a chopped salad. I normally find when it's the main component of the dish that it all ends up tasting rather same-y, both flavor and texture wise. I also tend to like a more dressed salad than this one ends up being with just a squeeze of lemon and a little olive oil. I don't need my green drenched in ranch, but I like a more complex dressing. Aside from the kale there is roasted butternut squash, almonds, and crumbled parmesan cheese. It's a simple salad that comes together and could be a nice change of pace from the iceberg or romaine forward ones.

As expected, the kale wasn't anything special. It's just a rougher green that really needs to be cooked, in my opinion. I did enjoy all of the little bits that were mixed it to give different flavors and textures. The absolute star of the show was the roasted butternut squash. All I could think about was where had this been all of my life. I like some squashes but could go without others like spaghetti squash. I could not stop eating the little roasted squares. They were slightly crunchy, but really luscious in the middle. I will be making roasted butternut squash as a side for sure sometime in the future.

In my last post, I mentioned that this was part of a fully vegetarian meal. It all tasted quite healthy and certainly had some bright spots. Both dishes had us searching for a little bit more flavor and left us hungry without some more protein or carbs to go with them. Perhaps some crust bread or an additional side would have fixed that. That being said, it was a nice attempt towards eating more plant based meals, something I'd like to try to incorporate into our regular dinner rotation.