Raw or Hot Kale Salad

This has become my staple salad, it tastes great and is fantastically versatile. This recipe makes a dozen side-salad servings, possibly more.

1 Red onion
Kale, you can use one of those big pre-washed/chopped bags or a couple of whole-leaf bunches
8 Carrots
3 Beets (fresh/raw)

juice of 2-3 lemons
1/2 to 3/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic minced
Salt
1/2 teaspoon or to taste of Cayenne pepper


I utilize the food processor pretty heavily for this one. I also prefer to buy organic kale. Kale appears in EWG's dirty dozen list of produce with high levels of pesticides. If I cannot find organic kale I wash my kale with water and baking soda in a pot or sanitized sink, then rinse and dry. Wash the other produce as well.

Cut the onion into pieces just small enough to fit in the processor and use the thin slicing blade. Put the sliced onions in a small container, pour cider vinegar over the onions and set aside.

Using the large slicing blade process the kale EVEN IF YOU USE PRE-WASHED/CHOPPED KALE run it through the processor; no one wants to chew on a 1-inch kale stem. Place the processed kale into a very large bowl add a teaspoon or your preferred amount of salt to the kale, toss and then bruise the kale by squeezing bunches of it in your hands. (This tip on preparing kale was courtesy of Heather Nauta)

Using the standard shredding blade process the carrots and beets, add to the bowl with the kale.
Add the minced garlic, take care not to allow clumps of minced garlic to form or someone will get an intense bite later on.

Take your container of sliced onions and swish the vinegar over the the onions or seal the container and shake. The point is to replace the volatile acid in the onion with the more palatable cider vinegar. Drain the onions and add to the bowl with the kale.
Add the lemon juice, olive oil, and Cayenne pepper, toss well.
The salad is now ready to be eaten as is. In addition to eating this salad raw I often reduce some balsamic vinegar in a pan, add some of the salad and heat until the kale stems are softened.

For those of us that still eat meat: cook some steaks in an iron or steel skillet, deglaze the pan with balsamic vinegar, reduce the vinegar, add some salad and cook/wilt until the stems are softened and enjoy.

Paul's Carrot Salad

This is it in general, but I just wing the amounts so you may have to tweak it after the first run. The following is the two-bowl recipe which sits for a few hours or overnight. In a pinch you can just mix it all up and serve instead.

8 cups shredded carrots
1 cup sour cream
Juice of 1 or two lemons (try tossing some of the zest in there too)
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar (light brown is useless and if you don’t have dark just skip this, I skip it all the time, but the dark does add a nice flavor component)
An inch or two of fresh grated ginger (the smell is great, but remember this also adds a little heat)
Some salt, no more than a teaspoon, likely half a teaspoon

2 cups of dried fruit (I use 1 cup raisins & 1 cup dried cranberries)

Mix all this stuff up in the first bowl. It’s not easy to mix the sour cream in, but keep at it.

In a different bowl evenly spread the two cups of dried fruit.

Take your carrot mix and add it on top of your dried fruit.
Let sit for 4 hours or overnight in the refrigerator
The point is to let the dried fruit hydrate in the juice from the carrot mix.
Stir well before serving.

As it sits more juice is created so you have to figure out an ideal mix between the amount of liquid (sour cream, lemon juice & salt[salt makes the carrots give up some juice]) initially added and the amount of sit time.

Leftovers will always end up too juicy, just drain it off.

Raw Garlic Zucchini Salad

I started with a cooked summer squash recipe and toyed with it until I ended up with something I found tasty and satisfying:

1/4 cup olive oil (or more as needed to coat)
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 summer squash, thinly sliced
2 zucchini, thinly sliced
1 tomato, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, thinly sliced (optional)
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Combine all and enjoy.

Optional cook step: heat the 1/4 cup olive oil with minced garlic until aromatic. Add 1 cup chopped fresh spinach and stir just until wilted and pour oil and spinach over remaining ingredients, toss to coat.