Kale Salad

This is no ordinary kale salad. This particular breed of salad convinced a burly 50 year old man, my father, to walk into a hipster coffee shop in Soho and walk out with a recipe scribbled on the back of a napkin.

My father is not the type of man you can imagine eating in a coffee shop, especially ones filled with younger people that sport tattoos. The barista in fact, was a gentleman with dreads and a golden pocket watch peeking out of his vest. The barista strangely resembled a sort of well-dressed pirate.

He is the old fashion kind of man, my father. I have eaten countless dinners with him at short order diners and at a little luncheon that’s been in business since he was about 12. At 6 foot something he hardly fit at the scratched up wooden table inside the shop.

Now please don’t misunderstand me, it’s not that he’s not open minded about food, and it’s not that he hasn’t had some interesting dishes in his time. He is a very cultured man, but at heart a carnivore. To his credit, he eats every vegan or vegetarian experiment I put before him with an open mind. As my daddy, it’s his obligation, but he does seem to show some genuine enjoyment with tofu (just don’t tell him I said that). But seriously… kale salad coupled with a dainty fork his large hands seemed to swallow up- is quite the contrast.

I watched him as he took a bite of the salad. I could smell the garlic from across the table and practically hear the crunch of the raw vegetable. He got up and walked to the counter, our pirate friend did not look so sure about the approach. He asked what was in it, wrote it down on a napkin and promptly finished off the bowl.

Sometimes you find wonderful things in unlikely places. Pirates, burly 50 year old men and kale salad included.

4 cups fresh kale, rinsed and finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped hazelnut or pecan
1/2 small white onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/3 cup craisins (dried cranberries) or one apple of the sweet variety ( I suggest honey crisp)
1/3 cup asiago cheese (optional)
3 tbs olive oil

1) Combine all ingredients into a medium size bowl. As you can see, there is an emphasis on finely chopped. This is important because it will give the correct balance of flavor. One exception would be the craisins or the apple. The craisins you can leave whole and the apple can be chopped larger or alternatively, more roughly.