Peaches, Almonds, Goat Cheese, Too – Summer Perfection Right On Cue
With the balanced flavors of the Fresh Lime Ginger Miso Dressing brightening every bite, this is kale salad at its best. Enjoy this versatile Kale Sugar Snap Pea Salad throughout the year. During the summer months, replace the fresh peaches with apricots, plums, nectarines, cherries, grapes
or berries. In the fall and winter, consider Asian pears, apples, pears, pomegranate arils or tangerines or oranges. Any time of year, you can exchange the almonds for toasted walnuts, pecans, cashews, hazelnuts or even Toasted Pumpkin, Sunflower, Sesame Seed Sprinkle. And, of course, feta and fresh goat cheese are almost always interchangeable.
Fresh from the Farmers Market
My favorite farmers at our Saturday market currently have filled half gallon zip lock bags of summer’s first kale for sale. If you’re not familiar with early season kale, it is deliciously more tender and milder than kale from later in the year. For $3, you get a 10-ounce bag with varieties of both Russian and curly kale, minus almost all the thick stems. 😊
This husband-and-wife team are celebrating their 42nd year at this market. One bag of their beautiful kale is exactly the right amount for this recipe for Kale Sugar Snap Pea Salad. Along with the kale, Saturday, they’ll have the first of their sugar snap peas for sale as well.
Perhaps I’ll see you this coming Saturday at the Bozeman market, second booth on your right from the main entrance.
Preparing Kale
My initial thought was that trimming and cutting the kale would be time-consuming. So, the first time I made this salad, I tried pulsing the kale leaves in the food processor. Although it worked, the pieces were much too small.
The second time, I cut the kale with a knife. And, it only took 5 minutes to cut up all the kale. Definitely the way to go.
- Holding the stem with one hand, place the fingers of your other hand hold along the sides of the stem. Then run your fingers down the stem, stripping away the leaves as you go.
- OR, fold each leaf of kale in half. With a sharp knife, remove the stems and discard. (Or thinly slice them and save for a soup or stir-fry.)
- The recipe requires just over 7 ounces of trimmed kale.
- Tear or cut the kale into 1-1 ½ inch pieces, yielding about 8 cups of lightly packed kale
9 Health Benefits of Kale
If deliciousness weren’t enough, many of you might enjoy reading this article that popped up just now on my newsfeed while I was taking a short break from writing this post. The 9 Health Benefits of Kale. (Love the synchronicity.)
Office with a View
Our patio flower trough. Also known as the view from Paul’s office window. With all the warm weather, sunshine, and a self-watering drip line, our most beautiful basket ever.
Kale Sugar Snap Pea Salad w/ Lime Ginger Miso Dressing
- Inspired by and adapted from a recipe in the NYTimes by Mark Bittman
- Depending upon the time of year, replace the fresh peaches with sliced apricots, plums cherries, berries, apples, pears, Asian pears, pomegranate arils or citrus. Change out the toasted almonds with toasted walnuts, pecans, cashews, hazelnuts or Toasted Pumpkin, Sunflower, Sesame Seed Sprinkle.
- And, of course, feta and fresh goat cheese are almost always interchangeable.
Tender early season kale makes a tender salad. Later in the season, as the kale leaves toughen, take a few minutes to massage the kale with a bit of oil and a light sprinkling of salt before continuing with the recipe.- The Lime Ginger Miso Dressing makes enough for 1 ½ times this recipe. Leftover dressing is perfect for grain bowls or as a flavorful sauce for steamed or roasted vegetables. Without limes, substitute lemon zest and juice.
Makes 4-8 servings Printer-Friendly Recipe
Total Time about 45 minutes
Ingredients
Dressing (Makes 1 ¼ cups)
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil- ¼ cup peeled, rough ¼-inch diced ginger
- ¼ cup lite seasoned rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons white miso
- Finely grated zest of 1 lime and ¼ cup juice
- 8 twists freshly ground pepper
Salad
- ¾ pound kale (such as Lacinato, Russian and/or curly)
- 2 cups sugar snap peas, stemmed
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup slivered almonds, toasted
- 2 ripe peaches cut into thin slices
- ¼ cup fresh mint leaves, very thinly sliced
- 2 ounces feta or goat cheese, crumbled
Instructions
- Prepare the Dressing: In a blender jar or with an immersion blender, combine the oil, ginger, vinegar, miso, lime zest and juice and freshly ground pepper. Blend for about 1 minute, until the dressing becomes a creamy emulsion with no chunks of ginger remaining.
- Prepare the Salad: Heat the oven to 300 degrees.
- Destem and tear or roughly cut the kale into 1-1 ½ inch pieces. You’ll have about 8 cups of lightly packed kale (about 7 ounces).
In a large mixing bowl, gently toss the kale together with ½ cup of the dressing. Set aside while you prepare the rest of the salad ingredients.- Place 1 ½ inches of water and ¼ teaspoon salt in a medium saucepan over high heat. When the water comes to a boil, drop in the sugar snap peas. Blanch for 2 minutes. Immediately drain the snap peas in a strainer, then place
them in ice water until cold. Drain the snap peas and lay them out on a towel to dry. Chill the snap peas in the refrigerator while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. - Place the almonds in one layer on a rimmed sheet pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown and toasted. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
- Chiffonade (very thinly slice) the fresh mint leaves.
- Slice the peaches.
Reserve a few sliced peaches and a couple of tablespoons each of the rest of the salad ingredients. Add the rest of the salad ingredients into the bowl with the kale. Toss together with an additional ¼ – ⅓ of the dressing, as needed. Transfer Kale Sugar Snap Pea Salad to a serving bowl. Garnish with the reserved items and serve.