Warm Kale & Apple Salad
Most meals in our house growing up were served with a green salad and fresh made vinaigrette on the side. I never really questioned it, it was just the way it was done. And in fact, I came to really enjoy them, and I tend to do the same with my own family (the eating habits you form with your kids really do stick!). It can be the perfect antidote to a heavier meal like pasta, creamy sauces or filling stews.
But green salad, while nice with a meal, is just not a meal in itself. And since so many places and people seem to believe salad has to start with a large bowl of iceberg lettuce, usually mixed with a few other ingredients chucked in sparingly, salad tends to get a bad rap.
Salad, however, can be amazing. Or so I’ve come to discover. When you get some great ingredients, include some cooking steps, serve it warm and drizzle liberally with an amazing sauce, it can be a perfect winter’s day meal.
This kale & apple winter salad is just that. Filling, packed with flavour, drizzled with an amazing pesto sauce, and warming from the inside out. It’s eating salad that doesn’t feel like eating salad. It feels like a truly satisfying and delicious dinner.
Crunchy apples, soft fried veg, creamy chickpeas and a tangy fresh and flavoursome dressing.
Now that’s my kind of salad.
A delicious, warming, satisfying winter salad packed with vegetables and drizzled in a delicious fresh pesto sauce. Perfect for making eating salad feel like not eating salad. Vegan, gluten free, sugar free, low carb.
- 1 large white or sweet potato (white potato will take an extra couple of mins to cook), finely diced
- 1 red onion, finely diced
- 200 g (7oz) Brussels sprouts, shredded
- 1 bag (200g/7oz) kale, de-stemmed and roughly chopped
- 1 (400g/14oz) tin chickpeas, drained
- 1 large apple, roughly chopped
- 4-6 tablespoons parsley pesto*
- pumpkin seeds or roughly chopped walnuts, optional
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Gently fry the onion and sweet potato or potato cubes in 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large frying pan or wok for about 10-15 minutes or until softened. Add shredded sprouts and kale and cook for 2-3 minutes until soft and wilted. Add the chickpeas and apple and cook for 2 more minutes to heat through. Take off the heat and stir through the pesto and nuts or seeds, if using. Serve warm (or cold, if you prefer, but warm is definitely nicer!), on its own or with some wholegrain bread and/or a poached or fried egg.
*you can find my parsley pesto recipes (all 3 versions are delicious on this) here. They all take just a minute to make.
**easy to adapt: Don't have apples? Try pears. Don't have sprouts? Shredded cabbage works great. Don't have chickpeas? Use cooked beans, meat or crumbly goat's or feta cheese. Don't have potatoes? Use squash or sweet potatoes.
Thank you for inspiration how I can help my picky eater get more healthy. Great recipe as kale grows in my garden!
Glad I could help! My little boy used to hate kale but strangely enough chose it as his veg to grow in the garden last year and now loves it. 🙂