A salad you just have to try

Yesterday was Fat-Tuesday, as we call it in Sweden. I did my duty as a swede and had semlor with my roommates (see recipe in yesterday’s post). I must confess that I was kind of nervous having offered them to taste this epic pastry that is such an important thing back home, whilst it was the first time ever I’d made a vegan version of them. But boy, were they delicious! Anyhow, there is an art to getting through the Semmel-day, maximizing your enjoyment when digging in to your grand treat. One of the tricks you learn pretty fast is to keep the rest of your meals nice and light, to leave loads of room for at least one semla. Thus, I had salad for dinner.

Salad for dinner may sound kind of Spartan. You might think about people on a diet. Or that it would never fill you up or feel hearty enough. It is true that it leaves you feeling lighter than after say a heavy stew, but that does not mean you won’t be full and satisfied. With the right stuff in it, a salad is a great and fast dinner, and perfect before a semla. So what was this salad I had? It ended up being a wonderful kale salad with apple, fennel and Puy lentils hugged by an amazing miso-almond dressing.

Kale salads are my new passion. Kale has such a wonderful “meatiness” to it, compared to lettuce, and I just love using my hands to massage the dressing into its crunchy leaves. I strongly believe this is the best way to do it. Roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty crunching and massaging that kale. This makes it soften a bit and really dresses it in the best possible way.

The dressing for this recipe keeps a good long while in the fridge, so make a lot just to have some around for later (trust me, you’ll want to put it on everything!). It’s great as a dip for vegetables, on noodles, stir-fries, and salads… It is simply a good dressing, no need to say more. As for the amounts in the salad, I’m going to leave the proportions up to you. I’ve given you some guidelines, but depending on what you prefer and how hungry you are, add more or less of the different components!

For two lucky salad eaters

A few good handfuls of kale

1 apple

¼ red onion

A chunk of fennel

A handful or two of roasted almonds

2-3 dl cooked Puy lentils

A sprinkle of sea salt and black pepper

Miso-almond dressing (see recipe below)

Remove the stalks from the kale and tear it into smaller pieces. Slice both the onion and the fennel as thin as possible, use a mandolin for the fennel if you have one. Core and slice the apple or cut it into small cubes. Put the kale, fennel and onion in a pretty salad bowl with a good amount of dressing and give it a good massage, no need to be gentle. Add the apple and lentils and more dressing if needed. Mix it all up and sprinkle with salt, pepper and the roasted almonds. Enjoy with few slices of good bread.

Miso-almond dressing

Mix all of the following together: 3 parts miso, 3 parts almond butter, 9 parts apple juice and 1 part apple cider vinegar. Taste and correct the proportions if needed.