Food & Drink

Swe-Dishes: Kale Salad With Toasted Hazelnuts

Winter might not seem like the most appropriate time to sit down with a big bowl of leafy greens, but with the right veggies and extras, a winter salad can be filling and delicious. And as many of us are buckling down on resolutions to eat healthier in the New Year, this kale salad recipe from John Duxbury’s SwedishFood.com is just what we’re looking for.

This salad is not only a delicious meal, but Duxbury also created the dish for the winter months.

“Although my mother was a good cook, I have bad memories of salads with cold meat in the winter!” he writes. “Essentially, they were the same as summer salads, but with limp imported lettuce and tasteless soft tomatoes. Winter salads in Sweden came as a revelation! Vegetables, often raw, were used to create lovely salads full of flavor and there was no limp lettuce in sight!”

Tips

• Use the recipe below as a starting point, adapting it to what is seasonal and readily available. For instance, add some blanched stem broccoli and apple instead of the raisins and cheese.
• If you can’t find Västerbottensost, use parmesan or pecorino instead.
• Massaged kale also goes well with dried cranberries and roasted cashew nuts. For 8 c. of kale, roast 4 tbsp. of cashew nuts for 10-15 minutes and add to kale with 4 tbsp. of dried cranberries.
• For a little more color, use pomegranate kernels.
• Other dressings can be used if you prefer, such as rapeseed oil, apple cider vinegar and a teaspoon of honey, perhaps replacing the hazelnuts with walnuts.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp. blanched hazelnuts
• 8 c. kale leaves
• 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 3 tbsp. good quality olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ½ c. raisins (or black grapes, halved)
• 1¾ oz. Västerbottensost

Method

1. Pre-heat an oven to 350°F.
2. Spread the whole hazelnuts, in a single layer, evenly over a baking tray. Roast in the oven for about 15 minutes, until the hazelnuts are a nice golden-brown color.
3. Meanwhile, discard the stems of the kale, chop or tear the leaves and place in a large bowl.
4. Add the lemon juice, oil, salt and pepper. Massage the leaves with your fingers for 3-5 minutes, until they are tenderized. Taste to check that they are no longer bitter.
5. Add the raisins, toss thoroughly and transfer to a serving dish.
6. Roughly crush the toasted hazelnuts and add to the salad.
7. Shave the cheese and add to the salad. Serve immediately (although it does keep well for an hour or two).

John Duxbury enjoys cooking Swedish food and went to the trouble of learning Swedish so he could read Swedish cookbooks. The love affair with Swedish food started as a result of numerous visits to Sweden when he was working with Swedish students. When he retired from teaching he decided to set up http://www.swedishfood.com so other people with an interest in Swedish cooking could benefit from his work.