MASSAGED KALE WITH POMEGRANATE, PERSIMMON, AND PISTACHIO

I LOVE this salad! I know. I know. Some of you glance a kale recipe and roll your eyes. I get it, we've seen A LOT of kale action over these past few years, but the truth is I'm not done with kale (and I have a feeling I'm not the only diehard fan out there). Plus this salad is so darned good I had to share it here today, even kale skeptics could fall for this one.

If you haven't massaged kale before, really, you should give it a go. Massaging dressing into the leaves transforms hearty, fibrous kale into green goodness that's almost unrecognizably silky and tender (plus you get a little workout). For me, raw kale is totally unpalatable, but massaged kale is heavenly - it's a totally different beast - and a delicious beast at that.

The base recipe for this salad (one of my favorite recipes in my cookbook) is always the same - I think the secret to the dressing lies in the splash of maple syrup, which brings a sweetness that tempers the kale's bitter bite. After dressing the leaves, I always add a few layers of texture, flavor and color. I like pistachios here for crunch (and I think toasted hazelnuts or marcona almonds would be equally delish). In my book, I call for kumquats and dried cranberries, but this time of year I can't resist tossing in my two seasonal obsessions of the moment - pomegranates and fuyu persimmons. They make such delicious companions to the tender kale and help the whole dish feel festively appropriate for the holiday season. I can totally see this dish as a fresh addition to the Thanksgiving table.

One last thing to keep in mind about this salad.... it holds up shockingly well. You can make a batch of massaged kale and eat it hours later or even the next day. Convenient, right?

Wishing you all the happiest of Thanksgivings. Savor that time with your loved ones.

xoxo
E

INGREDIENTS  adapted from Yummy Supper: 100 Fresh, Luscious & Honest Recipes from a {Gluten-Free} Omnivore

• 2 large bunches kale, lacinato or red are great here
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 firm, but ripe, Fuyu persimmons, peeled and sliced into thin wedges, then cut in half
• 1/3 cup fresh pomegranate arils
• 1/3 cup coarsely chopped, roasted and salted pistachios

After washing and thoroughly drying your kale, discard the tough ribs, then tear or chop leaves into smallish pieces. Set aside.

In the meantime, whisk together maple syrup, lemon juice, olive oil and salt in a large salad bowl. Add prepped leaves to the bowl and massage that dressing into the leaves. Don't be shy... really go for it. Massaging the leaves for 3-5 minutes will render the leaves nice and tender. Taste as you go to experience the transformation.

When you're done massaging, taste the salad for seasoning, adding additional lemon juice, salt or maple syrup to your liking.

Enjoy.



serves 6-8 as a small side

P.S. The beautiful black cutting boards in this post were a gift from my buddies at Blackcreek Mercantile. (Thank you Josh and Kelly!) Local folks, run, don't walk to March where you can drool over Blackcreek's stunning new collection of boards, cooking tools, and the perfect step stool.  

A SALAD FOR THE EDIBLE SCHOOLYARD {+ my little video on how to supreme an orange}

Alice Waters' original Edible Schoolyard is a five minute walk from our house. For years, we've taken early evening strolls through the garden, ogling the vast array of plants, herbs, fruit trees - all inspiring our own tiny backyard veggie garden.

When our boy Otis was getting ready to enter middle school two years ago, we couldn't resist King. We wanted Otis to have the freedom to safely roam our neighborhood, ride his bike to school, have local friends, and be a part of our community school. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the Edible Schoolyard was a huge draw for us in making this change.  King kids are fortunate enough to have classes in both the Kitchen and Garden programs associated with the Schoolyard.  Every time I visit, I'm stunned to see a huge group of middle schoolers not messing around or worrying about being cool, but totally focused and invigorated about cooking, gardening, eating, and learning. I've never seen adolescents so excited about vegetables! Who wouldn't want their child to have this invaluable education... an education which instills a passion for learning that permeates all aspects of the school, way beyond the Garden and Kitchen.

King kids know they're lucky to have the Schoolyard - I see them taking great pride in knowing where food comes from, and how to grow and cook nourishing food for themselves.  I dream of these King kids becoming parents a generation from now, and the joy and knowledge they will be able to share with their own families - the healthful meals they will cook with their own children.

When my amazing friend Phyllis asked if I'd be interested in teaching a class with her at the Edible Schoolyard to benefit our Berkeley Public Libraries, I immediately said "YES!" On Saturday, we had a blast cooking with 11 adorable kids and their moms, dads, and even a few grandmothers. Phyllis, a pastry master, taught everyone to make sumptuous savory tarts - my oh my were they incredibly good. Then, I worked with the gang on making a deconstructed salad and taught the kids how to whip up a simple vinaigrette in mason jars. Watching all their eager little faces as they shook up salad dressing and ate lettuce like it was candy made my heart swoon. While I always feel lucky to cook with my own kids and their friends, it was totally inspiring for me to cook with this group of kiddos I'd never met. I feel incredibly lucky to have had the tiniest taste of the magic the Edible Schoolyard gets to experience every day. I'm savoring it.

CITRUS, FENNEL, RADISH + PISTACHIO SALAD
 serves 4
{printable recipe}

For the dressing:

• 1 heaping teaspoon Dijon mustard
• generous pinch of good sea salt
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 cup olive oil

For the salad:

• 1/2 pound baby arugula, or butter lettuce
• 1 medium fennel bulb
• 6 radishes
• 8-10 kumquats
• 2 oranges: Cara Cara or blood oranges are my favorites here
• 1 cup roasted salted pistachio, shells removed; or 1/3 cup pepitas
• optional: arugula and/or fennel blossoms

The dressing: First, place all ingredients in a lidded jar. Shake vigorously until dressing has emulsified. Dip a leaf of lettuce into the dressing and add more salt, vinegar, or oil to your liking.

The salad: Wash, fully dry and place your salad greens into a large bowl. (Keep in mind that fully dried leaves will be key to your dressing adhering nicely to the greens later.) Trim and thinly slice fennel bulb and radishes. Slice kumquats thin, leaving skins on. Remove any seeds.

Supreme oranges. (See video at the end of this post.)

Place fennel, radishes, kumquats, orange slices, and pistachios (or pepitas) into individual bowls.

When all of your salad components are prepped, and you’re ready to eat, lightly dress your greens. (Go ahead and use your hands to toss the salad - it's the best way to get a beautiful even coating of dressing on all the leaves.) Place bowls of chopped goodies on the table and let everyone make the salad they desire. Pass around small pitcher of extra dressing in case anyone wants to add another drizzle to his/her plate.


I decided to make a little video for you guys ( my first ever!) showing the simple way to supreme an orange. If you struggle to slice clean segments of citrus and are looking for a little help, I hope this video makes your life easier....

TOASTED PISTACHIO PESTO

My belly is still recovering from overindulging in a delicious Thanksgiving feast. How about yours?  Every year I am shocked to be hungry in the days after Thanksgiving. But here I am, back in the kitchen, ready for more.

Speaking of thanks, topping my list of things to be thankful for this year (and the list is long!) is...  my mom is healthy and cancer-free after a very scary couple of months.  I continue to be awed by her strength, attitude, grace, and resilience. When I brought her home after her second surgery last month, I told her I'd cook anything she craved. She wanted pesto. The sweet, funky, grocery store in her little town doesn't always stock pine nuts, but they did have some really good, roasted, organic pistachios from a farm nearby. I was inspired. I whipped up some chunky, rustic, and super flavorful pesto for my hungry mom. I was sure to pack in an extra dose of love in this meal knowing how essential every bite is to her healing process. She wolfed down her bowl of pistachio pesto pasta and continued to crave and eat bowls of pesto pasta for days. I was so honored to feed my mom.

I've been playing around with this recipe ever since. I tried adding some lemon zest and that didn't work. I substituted parsley for basil - success. I thought sweet and nutty Piave would be a great partner to the standard Parmesan and it was. I also ended up loving the addition of whole pistachios, leaves of parsley, and extra grated cheese to be scattered over the platted pesto pasta - the varied texture of the deconstructed pesto elements gives this classic a refreshing new life.

Like pretty much all of the recipes I share with you, this one is only as good as its ingredients. The pistachios need to be flavorful, the parsley fresh and perky, and the cheese delicious. I hope this recipe nourishes you as it did my mom.


INGREDIENTS (printable recipe)

• pasta of your liking
• 3/4 cup pistachios, roasted (or if raw follow my roasting suggestions below)
• 2 cups loosely packed Italian parsley leaves
• 1/4 cup finely grated Piave (if you cannot find Piave, you can just use Parmesan)
• 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan (plus some extra for the table)
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed or finely chopped
• 1/2-3/4 cup olive oil
• sea salt and black pepper to taste

Heat a large pot of pasta water while you make the pesto.

If you are using raw pistachios, do the following.... Heat a skillet over medium heat on the stove top. Toss in the raw pistachios and give them a shake occasionally to ensure even browning. It should take about 5-7 minutes to toast the pistachios this way. Set pistachios aside to cool to room temp before using.  They will firm up a bit as they cool to room temp.

For garnish later, set aside 1/4 cup roasted whole pistachios, 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, 1/4 cup mixed grated cheeses.

Get out your blender. Place remaining pistachios in the blender and pulse until the nuts are very coarsely chopped. (I think this coarse texture really makes the dish). Add remaining parsley leaves and pulse again a few times to blend. Add just enough olive oil to make the mixture move - about 1/2 cup. Add garlic, remaining cheese, salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Barely blend in order to preserve that coarse texture. Taste to see if you'd like additional salt or pepper. Add if needed.

Cook your pasta.

Scoop pesto onto piles of warm pasta. Scatter a few whole pistachios and parsley leaves over each plate. Pass the grated cheese, salt, pepper grinder, and even a little dish with extra pesto.

Enjoy!

SPICY QUINOA WITH TANGERINES, PISTACHIOS, AND HERB PUREE

Here in Bali, we've been buying these tangerines for months now and I still am awed every time I cut one open - the contrast of the ultra-dark green skin and the bright ripe orange interior is a thing of beauty. I wanted to celebrate these stunners with a recipe for you, and I came up with this new dish that I am crazy about.

I knew I wanted to make something with quinoa, tangerines, and pistachios. After adding a little of this and a little more of that, we have a recipe that is sweet, savory, spicy, salty, and wholesome all in one bowl.

In order to get the kids to eat this dish, I served all the elements separately. Lilah, favoring pistachios and tangerine slices, ate everything but the spicy dressing. Otis helped make the puree and loved everything but the feta. P and I doused our quinoa in the verdant puree and liberally sprinkled every goody over the top. We all went back for seconds - success!

This quinoa could easily be a vegetarian main course and I think it would make a delicious accompaniment for simple grilled chicken, or a whole roasted fish.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups quinoa (brown rice can also be used in this recipe)
• 1/3 cup fresh tangerine juice
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 4 teaspoons lime juice (approximately 3 limes)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• pinch of fresh ground black pepper
• 1 or 2 jalapenos, de-seeded and chopped
• 1 (loosely packed) cup fresh cilantro leaves + extra for garnish
• 1/2 (loosely packed) cup fresh mint leaves + extra for garnish
• 1/2 cup pistachios
• 2 large, or 4 small tangerines
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta

 

Rinse quinoa several times. Then combine quinoa with 3 cups of water in a large sauce pan. Bring water to a boil. Cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until grain is tender and cooked. Rinse with cold water. Let cool to room temp.

Place tangerine juice, olive oil, lime juice, 1 teaspoon salt, black pepper, chopped jalapeno, 1 cup cilantro leaves, and 1/2 cup mint leaves into a blender. Blend until you have a nice vibrant green puree.

Prepare tangerines: Peel 2 large (or 4 small) tangerines. I kept the peels on for the photographs because I just love the look (and my one and only knife here is duller than you can imagine!), but I wouldn't recommend eating that much peel in the salad. Check out this post, for a really easy way to slice citrus for salad.  Or, if you happen to have tangerines with tender membranes, you can just peel them and use the sections unsliced. Set aside tangerine slices/sections.

If you have picky little eaters, serve all ingredients separately. Otherwise, toss room temperature quinoa and dressing together. Scoop a mound of dressed quinoa onto each plate. Scatter tangerine, pistachios, feta, and the remaining fresh herbs over the top.

Enjoy!

makes 4- 6 servings as a side dish, or 2-3 large mains

Braised Halibut with Pistachios and Preserved Lemons

One evening I was busy with kid activities (homework, baths, art projects etc) and P was in charge of dinner. I expected a simple weeknight meal of grilled halibut and salad. But Paul treated us to a new scrumptious dish - Halibut with Pistachios and Preserved Meyer Lemons. It was so good, I had to share with you. Paul swears this dish isn't difficult to make - hard to believe P when you taste the fish - its flavors are complex and fancy-restaurant-good.

Our neighbor Rich recently gave us a jar of his home-preserved Meyer lemons, a necessary ingredient for this halibut dish. I just started to cure my own preserved lemons today.  See the following recipe to make your own.


INGREDIENTS
adapted from A16 Food + Wine  by Nate Appleman, Shelley Lindgren, and Kate Leahy

•  1 1/2 pounds halibut fillets
• sea salt
• 1 cup pistachios, shelled and lightly toasted
  
• 2 wedges preserved lemons
• 1/4 teaspoon dried chili flakes
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 cups loosely packed parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
  
• 1 fresh lemon, cut into wedges
  

Season the fish with a generous sprinkling of salt. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, or up to 4 hours before cooking.

30 minutes before cooking, bring fish to room temp.

Preheat oven to 400.

Remove pith and flesh from preserved lemon. Soak to remove excess salt. Rinse and mince.

In a mortar or food processor combine lemon, toasted pistachios and chili flakes. Coarsely blend, then slowly drizzle in olive oil. Add chopped parsley and continue to pulse, or crush until combined with other ingredients. Before adding any salt to the mixture, taste. There may be enough salt from the preserved lemons. If not, add a little sea salt to taste.

Place fish in a baking dish. Cover the top of each fillet with the pistachio/ lemon mixture. Press in gently so topping stays put.

Pour enough water into the pan so that it reaches half way up the sides of the fish. Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes until fish is just cooked through.

Transfer each fillets onto a warm plate. Finish with a drizzling of olive oil and lemon wedges on the side.

Give this recipe a try, and you will not be disappointed.

Serves 4

Pistachio Cake with Cara Cara Salad

Pistachio cake with Cara Caras on the side sounds irresistibly delicious to me (and maybe even a little healthy). When I found this recipe in the beautiful A16 cookbook, I had to give it a try. Lately, I have been LOVING recipes that use ground nuts in baking - the nuts give such a rich flavor and texture.

A lovely dessert after lunch, this pistachio cake could also be a nice little breakfast, tea, or brunch in and of itself. Today, I toasted a piece of leftover cake and ate it with a bowl of Greek yogurt and sliced pears. Yum.


INGREDIENTS
adapted from A16 Food and Wine by Nate Appleman and Shelley Lindgren

• 1 1/3 cup unsalted and shelled pistachios (plus a handful for garnish)
• 1 1/3 cup blanched almonds
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temp
• 3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 lemons
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour (for GF folks, Pamela's Bread and Flour mix)
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 5 Cara Cara Oranges or Blood Oranges
• 1/4 cup Meyer Lemon Marmalade
• creme fraiche

Preheat oven to 300.

In a food processor or blender pulse to grind up nuts. I recommend doing this in a couple batches to insure a fairly even ground. The ground pistachios were so gorgeous, I had to take a photo.




Next combine butter and sugar in a stand up mixer. Grate the zest of three lemons. Using the paddle attachment, blend butter, sugar and zest for 2 minutes on medium speed. Add vanilla and mix until integrated. Turn the mixer down to low and slowly mix in the ground nuts. Add one egg at a time while leaving the mixer running. Wait until each egg is mixed in before adding the next. Finally, add flour and salt. Stop mixing when all ingredients are incorporated.

Pour delicious batter into greased 4x8 inch loaf pan. The original recipe calls for the cake to bake for 45 minutes, but I had to bake the cake much longer. (About 25 minutes longer!) Trust yourself and use the old standard of checking for doneness - poke with a toothpick until it comes out clean.

Before removing from pan, let cake cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Slide a knife around the edges of the cake to insure it isn't stuck to the pan. The cake can be served warm or saved for later.




While the cake is baking, prepare your Cara Cara salad. Remove skins from oranges and slice. Slice off top and bottom of each orange. Then remove of skin in a few wide strips. Cut orange crosswise into slices about 1/4 thick.  See this simple technique below...

In a saucepan, gently warm marmalade. Add a little lemon juice if it is still too thick after warming. The texture should remind you of a thick vinaigrette. Toss the orange slices with the marmalade. Put this simple citrus salad on a plate next to a slice of the cake.

Top cake with a dollop of creme fraiche and a few pistachios. Serve and enjoy!