Description
Hearty, nutritious kale gets mixed with a homemade sherry vinaigrette and a marriage of sweet and salty fall flavors.
Ingredients
Scale
For the sherry vinaigrette
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon orange juice
- 3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon thyme
- sea salt + pepper, to taste
- 5 tablespoons olive oil
For the pepitas
- 1 1/2 cup pepitas
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
For the salad
- 1 large bunch kale
- 3 tablespoons pepitas, plus more for garnish
- 2 tablespoons dried cranberries, plus more for garnish
- 1 pear (Bartlett or D’Anjou)
- 1/3 cup ricotta salata
- 1 carrot
- fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
For the dressing
- Mix the sherry vinegar, mustard, honey, orange juice and thyme. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking vigorously until emulsified. Season with sea salt and pepper to taste.
For the pepitas
- For every 1 1/2 cup of pepitas, season with the sea salt, pepper and paprika and toss in the olive oil. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes until golden on a foil lined baking sheet. Store in an airtight container.
For the salad
- Wash, dry and de-stem kale. Chop the leaves into small pieces and toss in a bowl with a sprinkle of olive oil, sea salt and pepper. Massage the kale for a few minutes, until the leaves noticeably turn darker green in color and tenderize. Taste the kale to see if it’s still bitter. If so, keep massaging!
- Julienne the carrot. You can shave a few pieces for garnish.
- Toss the cranberries, pepitas, carrot and ricotta salata with the kale. Add the dressing, 2 tablespoons at a time until you reach your desired amount. This will depend on how large your kale bunch was, since every bunch will differ. Leftover dressing can be stored in the fridge for a later use.
- Garnish your salad with sliced pear, pepitas, cranberries, extra ricotta salata if you wish and a generous amount of fresh ground black pepper. Enjoy!