kale salad with cured lemon dressing

Thank goodness I found a blogging buddy, I’ve been on hiatus. Welcome, Tori! Love your avocado mousse.

I went to Baltimore last weekend to visit the GS. Audio book for the trip: Where’d You Go, Bernadette? I’d give it a 4 out of 5.

On Saturday we went golfing and I got some special deal that included a cart. I never take a cart when I golf, although I did used to love the golf cart rides my dad would take us on when we were little. One time, Morgan fell off the cart when we were going down a big hill and Kelly jumped off after her as if she were drowning. I stayed put. I’m not sure what this says about sisterly relationship between the three of us.

Anyway, we had a great time in spite of the fact that A) my driver and putter were missing- pretty sure Kevin stole them, B) golf is NOT like riding a bike, and all of my varsity golf “talents” have escaped me, and C) our golf cart died on the 11th hole. I pushed it while the GS steered, which earned us a lot of strange looks from everyone else out on the course. What can I say? We know our strengths.

Saturday night we went to Fork & Wrench which was a.mazing. My previous favorite Baltimore meal was at Liv2Eat, but F&W might be edging ahead. We ordered the kale with cured lemon & torn bread (today’s inspiration), steak tartar, and an arctic char dish that was like a deconstructed fish and chips. Highly recommend.

I attempted to re-create the kale dish we had, and came pretty darn close if my memory serves me after 2 double IPAs.

Kale Salad with Cured Lemon Dressing

to cure the lemons

1 lemon, thinly sliced, seeds removed

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup salt

for the salad

1 lb kale, chopped well

4-5 slices crusty bread

for the dressing

cured lemon slices

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp black pepper

Slice your lemon very thin and take out as many seeds as you can. Mix the salt and sugar together, then toss with the lemon slices. Keep in a sealed container for 3 days, shaking it occasionally. You can definitely cure more lemons as I’m sure there are millions of things to do with them, but I had a one track mind for kale. The salt and sugar amount would be enough for 2-3 lemons.

Using a fork, pull out the cured lemon slices and place them in the food processor. (Do not add the juice!! Too salty.) Add the mayo, Greek yogurt, garlic, and pepper. Combine until mostly smooth. You’ll have some tiny lemon pieces in there.

Rinse and chop up the kale really well. Toss with the dressing- you want the dressing to barely cover the kale. No Paula Deen style salads here. Toss the bread into tiny pieces (GS quote: “like you would feed to a tiny baby bird!”) and combine. If the pieces are too big- like crouton size- they’ll get soggy.

I ate some immediately because I have no patience. However because kale is so hearty, I recommend dressing it at least a couple of hours before serving it. It will break down the kale a little bit which is fine- it doesn’t get soggy like lettuce. You can also add the bread later if you want it to be bigger pieces.

The curing of the lemon adds some salty flavor to the dressing, and it’s a good mix of mayo and Greek yogurt. I thought the version at F&W had a pretty obvious mayo flavor which was fine with me, but I tried to cut it with the yogurt here for health and for the benefit of Hellman’s haters.