This emerald green kale salad with sunflower seed pesto and apricots is one flavorful healthy salad! The kale is massaged with lemon juice and zest and the apricots are soaked in white wine and sherry vinegar. Toss in some toasted sunflower seeds and sharp aged cheese and you’re ready to go!
Kale likes a good massage. It wants a rubdown from your fingers to be happy. There’s nothing like a minute of friction to transform kale from rough and bitter-strong to pliant and downright addictive. Don’t worry about damaging the leaves, kale actually benefits from the massage.
I mean, one time I ordered a kale caesar salad at a restaurant in California. The large pieces of curly kale were practically inedible and I swear it took me an hour to eat the salad. If the chef had first massaged his chopped kale with a pinch of sea salt, it would have been a winning salad!
Be ready to get your hands in the emerald kale mix—be an awesome kale massager! It’s easy! Just sprinkle chopped kale with a pinch of salt, and maybe a squeeze of lemon. Then pick up the kale with both hands and squeeze between your fingers and palm. Release and pick up more kale, squeeze and release. Repeat until the kale is a brighter green and about one-third less volume.
More kale salad ideas:
- Kale salads can have myriad variations. You can substitute other pesto varieties, like basil walnut pesto or my vegan walnut pesto. If you only have dried cherries or cranberries, substitute them for the dried apricots. Golden raisins or dates are also delicious with kale.
- You might also want to try this Kale and Quinoa Salad with toasted pumpkin seeds.
- One of my favorite kale salads is the Mexican kale slaw in Love Real Food by Kathryne Taylor (affiliate link) of the fabulous Cookie and Kate blog.
**** This kale and sunflower seed pesto salad recipe makes more pesto than you will need to dress the salad. Save the remaining pesto for another use.
This recipe was inspired by a salad served at an Outstanding in the Field dinner that I once got to enjoy.
Make it a fabulous week–get in the kitchen and massage your kale!
PS If you make this recipe and love it, please consider leaving a blog post comment. Your comments help other readers learn more about the recipe. If you’d also give the recipe a ✮✮✮✮✮ rating, I’d be delighted!
Kale Salad with Sunflower Seed Pesto and Apricots
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup dried apricots , diced
- 2 tablespoons white wine
- 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
- 1 clove garlic
- ¼ cup plus ¼ cup grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese
- ½ cup tightly packed fresh basil leaves
- 2 tablespoons plus ¼ cup lightly toasted sunflower seeds
- 1 pinch fine sea salt
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 bunch kale , stems removed
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Sprinkle the diced apricots with the white wine and sherry vinegar and set aside to macerate while you prepare the pesto and kale.
- Make the pesto: In a food processor with the motor running, mince the garlic by dropping it through the feed tube. Add the first ¼ cup of cheese, the basil, the first 2 tablespoons of sunflower seeds and the salt. Process for about 10 seconds, stopping to move things around if they get hung up. With the machine running, pour oil through the feed tube in a thin stream, processing until everything is well blended.
- Chop the kale into ribbons about ¼-inch wide and put in a large bowl. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice and about ¼ cup of the pesto. Massage the mixture for 1 to 2 minutes and then set aside for about 15 minutes to give the kale time to tenderize and marinate.
- To serve, toss with the apricots, the remaining cheese and sunflower seeds.
Notes
- *I used lacinato or dinosaur kale but red or green curly kale is just as good. Use what you have.
- This recipe makes more pesto than you will need. Use 1/4 cup to dress the kale and save the remaining pesto for another use.
