warm kale salad bowl

There are good things happening in my life.

The sun is shining most days (although with Melbourne weather, this is not always to be counted upon, even though it’s past the middle of spring) and I have a summer bucket list in the works. I just got an ice cream maker so beware of upcoming deliciousness in your blog feeds, my friends.

But before we say goodbye to winter completely, let’s talk about kale.

Kale is a dark green leafy vegetable, nondescript and good for you and ALL OVER THE INTERNET. People are crazy about this leafy green good stuff. They put it in salads, in smoothies, as chips, with coconut, in tacos… the kale dishes never end. It’s so popular I was lucky to find some at the farmer’s market on the weekend. I got the last bunch.

Kale is a winter vegetable. It’s in the cabbage family and it has loads of good stuff in it like beta carotene, vitamins K and C and calcium. There are a couple of different types. The one I used is called dino kale, which is a dark, plain leafed variety. You can also get curly leafed kale varieties.

This is a really good lunch salad thingy. You’ve got your garlicky greens, bright orange and purple carrot, a whole avocado (mmmm, avocado…) crunchy pine nuts, chewy brown rice, salty parmesan cheese… It’s a party in your mouth. Please make this. Sit down to it without your phone by your side and take a moment for yourself.

And your kale.

Warm Kale Salad Bowl

Inspired by Joy the Baker and Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks

1/2 cup cooked brown rice

1/2 bunch dino kale

4 dutch carrots

1 clove garlic, chopped finely

olive oil

1/2 to 1 avocado, cubed

pine nuts, to taste

parmesan cheese, to taste

dressing: 1 tbsp lemon juice, 3 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp dijon mustard, shaken in a jar with salt and pepper to taste

To prepare the kale, take a hold of each stem and pull the leaves off with the other hand. Rip or cut the leaves up into manageable bites and wash them thoroughly.

Wash and top and tail the carrots, then peel them into strips.

Heat olive oil in a medium sized frying pan and saute the garlic with the carrot. Add the kale and saute until it is bright green and wilting. Take off the heat.

Toss kale mixture, rice and avocado together with dressing. Top with pine nuts and parmesan cheese to taste.

Eat immediately.