Today we are making a kale salad with roasted butternut squash, sauteed apples, pumpkin
seeds, and balsamic shallot vinaigrette.
A friend of mine, Serena, brought it to our house on Thanksgiving many years ago and now
I can’t imagine Thanksgiving without it.
I know that Thanksgiving is long gone, but I am not very good with holiday themed content,
and I didn’t want to wait another year to give you this wonderful recipe.
It’s just as good for Valentine’s day as it is for Thanksgiving, so I hope you try
it.
When I really love a dish, I always imagine serving it to some great chef.
The imaginary chef guest for this salad is Yotam Ottolenghi.
His food is all about contrasts and that’s what this salad is about: cooked vs raw, creamy
vs crunchy, sweet vs acidic.
I once heard Yotam say that a bowl of creamy soup with no accents would be his idea of
hell.
We are definitely on the same page about hell, so I am guessing we’d be on the same page
about this salad too.
Preheat the oven to 450F and set the rack close to the bottom of the oven.
Trim the top and bottom of your squash.
This gives you a flat surface so that the squash doesn’t wobble when you cut it in
half.
Let’s scoop out the seeds.
Peeling squash doesn’t have to be hard if you go about it in a smart way.
The skin is very smooth and it’s very hard to cut through it with a peeler if you start
in the middle of the skin.
But if you start at the edge of the skin, your peeler will cut right through.
Divide the squash into the hollow part where the seeds used to be, and the solid part.
Cut the squash into planks,
then sticks,
and then dice.
Butternut squash is such a hard vegetable, so I am not using a claw grip, and instead
using my left hand to push on top of the blade to help it cut through the squash.
Since the squash has a tendency to stick, you can line the baking sheet with parchment
paper.
But that’s completely optional.
Put the squash into a large bowl, add some black pepper, salt, and a quarter cup of olive
oil.
Toss really well and pour onto the baking sheet.
Don’t wash the bowl.
Just wipe it out and you can use it later for mixing your salad.
Spread into a single layer.
Keep in mind that it does have to be a single layer, so if your squash is really huge, you
might have some leftovers.
Put the squash on the bottom rack and let it cook for 30 minutes.
While the squash is roasting, let’s prep the apples.
Peel 2 honeycrisp apples or some other variety that holds shape well and doesn’t turn into
apple sauce as soon as you start cooking it.
Cut the flesh off the core and cut it into cubes.
We’ll also need some chopped thyme.
The exact amount is not important, so eyeball it.
Take the thyme leaves off the stems and mince them.
Set a large skillet that can hold your apples in a single layer over medium heat.
Add a couple tablespoons of olive oil and wait for them to get hot.
Add the apples and thyme.
Toss to distribute evenly and cook without disturbing until the apples brown.
When you get some color, mix, and leave them alone again to get more browning.
Be patient and don’t crank up the heat.
You want to give the apples a chance to get completely tender and you don’t want to
burn them.
When your apples are brown all over and tender when you pierce them, they are done.
Let’s see how our squash is doing.
I’ve got a lot of color on the outer pieces, but some of the inner pieces are still completely
pale.
I think the best thing to do at this point is to take out the super brown pieces, redistribute
what’s left over and continue cooking it for another 7-10 minutes.
Now all my squash is looking good and we can move onto kale.
The type of kale I am using is lacinato kale.
It also goes under the names of Tuscan kale or cavolo nero.
It’s typically softer than the curly kale variety and works better in a salad.
I removed all the stems and washed and dried the leaves.
Before you pick up your knife, use both hands to make a tight bundle of leaves.
Hold them with a claw grip, pick up the knife and start slicing.
The smaller your pieces, the less work your teeth will have to do.
Then switch to a mincing hold where your claw grip hand goes on top of the knife and cut
perpendicular to your original cuts until you break the kale into bite size pieces.
Move the kale into a bowl and let’s work on the dressing.
Cut up a couple of shallots.
The exact amount is not that important, but you want to end up with about 3 to 4 Tbsp
of minced shallots.
Start by dicing them just like onions and then mince.
Put 1 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar into a small bowl.
Add half a tablespoon of Dijon mustard and a generous pinch of salt.
Whisk until the mixture is completely smooth.
Then whisk in 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a very slow stream.
By the way, note the shelf lining I have under my bowl.
It’s the same thing I use to stabilize my cutting boards.
It helps hold the bowl in place while I am pouring and whisking.
Until I grow a third arm, it’s a very useful piece of equipment.
If you don’t have any shelf lining, you can set your bowl onto a damp paper towel.
Once all the oil is in, your dressing should be silky and thick.
Stir in the shallots.
Pour onto kale, toss to distribute evenly, and mix aggressively.
You don’t need to be gentle with kale.
Kneading it with your hands will help tenderize it.
Add the squash, the apples, and toasted salted pumpkin seeds or some nuts.
Once the squash goes in, you have to be gentle so that you don’t turn it into baby food.
Gently toss the salad.
Taste it for salt and acidity, and serve.
You can apply this wonderful pairing to many vegetables.
Remember the sunchoke swiss chard salad I made recently?
It’s the same basic idea -- combine a raw leafy green with a soft roasted vegetable
and watch the sparks fly.
Since there is a good bit of work involved in making this dish, I wanted to talk about
what can be made ahead.
The squash and apples should be at room temperature or at most lukewarm by the time you serve
them, so they can be made many hours ahead.
Kale is very sturdy, so it’s perfectly fine to dress it about an hour before serving,
maybe even longer.
Giving it a bit of time to sit and soak up the dressing will only make it tastier.
The only thing I would save for the last minute is combining the dressed kale with all the
other ingredients.
A word of advice to my viewers who are not located in the US.
Your kale might be very different from what I am using.
While I was teaching online cooking classes during the pandemic lockdown, I learned that
some countries only sell very thick mature kale which can be too chewy in a salad.
In that case, you can try using any salad green that you like.
This could work with frisee, arugula, spinach, escarole, or whatever greens taste good raw
where you live.
Here are more culinary tutorials for you to check out and if you are ever in the Boston
area, maybe I’ll see you in one of my classes.