
RECIPES
Thom's CANNELLINI & KALE SALAD




Ingredients
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1 or 2 bunches of kale (Curly Green Kale is preferred)
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2 or 3 heirloom tomatoes (go for colors, get yellow, red, striated whatever. Basic vine-ripened red tomatoes work too. The heirlooms have better flavor)
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1 can Cannellini beans
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1 avocado
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1 fresh lemon
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2 or 3 green onions (red onion also works)
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garlic
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red pepper flakes
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extra virgin olive oil
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kosher or sea salt
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pepper
Prep
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In a tall saucepan, put in a generous glug or three of olive oil. It needs to be deep enough to submerge slices of garlic. Heat on low (1 or 2 out of 10).
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Slice 2-3 cloves of garlic, put them in the warm oil followed with a few stiff three-finger pinches of red pepper flakes.
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Let the warm oil pull flavor out of the garlic & red pepper (at least 10 minutes) while you prep the rest.
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Rip kale leaves away from stems, tear into bite-sized pieces. Wash and drain the leaves. Throw the stems away, they're too tough to eat.
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Cut tomatoes into wedges, say 8-10 wedges per tomato. Sprinkle salt onto wedges now, this will deepen their flavor and draw liquid out. You'll have to drain the tomatoes when you're ready to assemble the salad.
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Take the avocado, split it, and spoon out "slices" of avocado. Squeeze some fresh lemon on the avocado to prevent browning.
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Open the Cannellini beans, rinse and drain.
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Clean and chop the green onions into little pieces. I use scissors and do them all at once. I'll cut them at an angle to make nice long oval slices. If I'm doing red onion, I cut it in half and slice it thinly from pole to pole rather than across the equator. They taste sweeter to me this way.
Cooking
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Turn flame up to medium-high (7 out of 10)
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Stir the kale in one handful at a time. This allows the kale to wilt to make room for the rest and you'll evenly coat the kale in the oil.
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Stir in two good pinches of salt.
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Cover, turn the heat down to 3.
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Cook for 3-5 minutes.
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Open the lid, taste and add any additional salt and pepper to your liking. The goal is to keep it green, if it goes brown, it gets a bad sulfur cabbage flavor.
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Turn heat off, put the kale into a bowl, let it cool. If I'm impatient, I'll chuck in the freezer for five minutes.
Assembly
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In a large bowl combine kale, Cannelini beans, avocado, and a squeeze of lemon.
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Mix them together where the avocado breaks up and turns into a dressing when combined with the olive oil and lemon that are already in the dish.
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Some of the beans break up and their starches make things extra rich and creamy.
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Fold in drained tomatoes and onions.
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Taste it.
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Add salt, pepper, lemon, red pepper and olive oil to your liking. Shoot, I'll sometimes zest the lemon and throw that in there too.
It's a great balance of textures and salty, fatty, acid, and a touch a red pepper heat.