Saturday, March 9, 2013

The Emperor's New Salad

I like to think of myself as a bit of a foodie. I eat out, read food magazines, watch Top Chef, follow the trends on Twitter, and cook a little myself, too. So, I am aware of the recent kale rage and not surprised in the least that lately? It seems like any place that considers itself some place has a kale salad on the menu.

Before we go any further let me publicly proclaim my support of greens. I have a winter CSA, and believe me, I have spent the last five years devising new ways to prepare and eat greens. I plan to continue to do so. Greens are great!

To continue...

A quick search of the internet turns up countless recipes for innumerable versions of kale saled. All have one thing in common: you must "massage" the kale before serving. Shouldn't that be a clue?

Even so, it was with happy aniticpation and the unabashed praise of the waiter that I ordered my first kale salad a few weeks ago. It was lunch time on a holiday Monday, though, and so the kitchen did not send my order with the rest of our table's.

We were on our way to a movie, I had a main dish coming, my family had shared their appetizers with me, so I shrugged it off and asked the waiter to take it off the check. His eyes widened in genuine concern. It will only take a moment, he assured me, but I was already sure, no salad today.

A few minutes later, along with our entrees the waiter presented a kale salad. It's on me, he said. I didn't want you to miss out. I appreciated the gesture, but I doubt any salad could live up to such hype, and that kale salad definitely did not. We all tried a bite, and when we were finished chewing, (and chewing, and chewing), we agreed that perhaps this green did not lend itself to a salad.

Or maybe it just needed a bit more massaging.

5 comments:

  1. Bummer. We have tried lots of recipes for Kale, as well, and the whole family can mostly agree on liking Kale Chips. Matt made an excellent Kale curry - see my post for more details! :)

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  2. Some things are just not meant to be. Maybe the chef only went to culinary school and not massage school :)

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  3. I have heard of kale, but I have never heard of Kale Salad. And I know I definitely won't be serving a vegetable that needs massaging! I'm more of a dump it out of the bag and into the bowl kind of gal! At least you can say you have tried it!

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  4. I'm glad the salad was on the house.

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  5. "maybe it just needed a bit more massaging" That is fantastic. Well written - a joy to read!

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