- We are so excited about fall,
and I have a salad for you
that you're going to make on repeat.
Check this out.
(upbeat music)
(Natasha groans)
(laughs) Hey, everybody,
it's Natasha of natashaskitchen.com.
We are making a kale sweet potato salad.
This is seriously a holiday-worthy salad,
but we wanted to make it during the week.
It is so good for you, loaded with amazing flavors,
and you are totally going to love this dressing.
And I'm hungry and craving salad, so let's get started.
All right, I don't know what this is doing here. (laughs)
We're going to start with the sweet potatoes.
And if you haven't already,
make sure to subscribe to our channel
if you like recipes that work.
I've got my oven preheating to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
And we're going to work on the sweet potatoes first
because they'll need time to bake and cool.
You'll need one and a half pounds of sweet potatoes.
That's about three smaller sweet potatoes or two medium.
Peel those, then dice them into half inch thick pieces.
To safely chop a sweet potato,
I like to make sure there's a flat surface.
So cut it into quarters before chopping it
into half inch pieces.
Try to cut them to an even thickness
so they bake up evenly in the oven.
Bite-sized pieces like this roast pretty quickly,
and they're perfect for a salad.
Transfer those to a large mixing bowl
and drizzle with one tablespoon of olive oil,
half a tablespoon of maple syrup,
half a teaspoon of fine sea salt,
and a quarter teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.
Toss the potatoes until they're evenly coated,
then transfer them to a large lined baking sheet.
You can either use a silicone lining like this one,
and I will link to this in the recipe notes,
or you can line with parchment paper.
Having a liner ensures that the sweet potatoes
don't stick to your baking sheet
and it makes cleanup super easy.
Bake the potatoes in the center of a preheated oven
at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.
I like to flip the potatoes after 20 minutes
to promote even browning.
While that's in the oven,
I'm going to make the rest of this salad.
Toast half a cup of pecans over a dry medium skillet
until they're golden and fragrant.
Transfer to a plate and set it aside to cool.
Now we're going to work on the dressing.
In a Mason jar or a small bowl
we're going to combine the dressing ingredients.
That's three tablespoons of apple cider vinegar,
one tablespoon of real maple syrup,
then one tablespoon of Dijon mustard.
Also you'll need one garlic clove,
cut off the end, then peel it.
And you can either finely mince or use a garlic press.
For something like salad dressing where I'm not cooking it,
it's perfectly okay to use a garlic press.
And this is my favorite one.
I will link to it in the notes.
Next, add 1/3 cup of a good quality
extra virgin olive oil,
followed by half a teaspoon of salt
and a pinch of black pepper.
Now whisk vigorously until it's well blended.
This is the dressing that dreams are made of.
You just have to smell it to know it's going to be good.
When the sweet potatoes are done,
they should be tender and easily pierced with a fork.
Take them out of the oven and let them cool down.
It's okay to add them when they're just warm,
but you don't want to add potatoes
to the salad when they're hot.
Next, we're going to tackle the kale.
And don't be intimidated by using kale
if you've never made a salad with it,
it's actually really easy.
Strip off the fiber stem by holding onto it
and pulling against it with your other hand.
This should make the leaves come off easily.
The stems are tough and difficult to chew,
so you definitely want to get rid of those.
Once I've stripped off the kale leaves,
I like to use a salad spinner
to rinse and spin dry the leaves.
You want the leaves to be pretty well dried
when you're putting them into the salad.
If you put them in too wet,
they can water down the dressing.
This is my favorite salad spinner,
and it has been so useful for years.
I use it for all kinds of salad.
Once the leaves are rinsed and dried,
you want to finely chop them into thin strips
and transfer those to a large mixing bowl.
It will look like a ton of greens at this point,
but once we add the dressing and toss it together
the greens will shrink down a little bit.
Drizzle 3/4 of your dressing over the kale
and set the rest aside for later.
Now use two forks to toss the kale together
with the dressing for a couple minutes,
or until the kale is reduced by about 1/4 in size.
Tossing the kale with the dressing like this
helps to soften it up and ensures
that every bite is so flavorful.
Next, scatter the roasted and cooled
sweet potatoes over the kale.
These little bites of sweet potato are so addicting,
and they're even better in salad.
Next, slice and add one apple.
You can use any apple that you like.
I'm using a golden delicious from my parents' tree,
but you can use a green apple, a red apple,
really any apple you have on hand.
Arrange the apple slices all over the top of your salad.
I like to put them in little triplets like this.
That way they stand out in the salad,
and it just looks prettier,
especially if you're serving the salad
for a special occasion or the holidays.
Now just sprinkle on the rest of your toppings.
We've got our toasted and cooled pecans.
Also your dried cranberries.
I'm using a generous half a cup of dried cranberries
for that sweet and tangy bite.
Also, I'm adding two ounces of crumbled goat cheese,
which is about half a cup once it's crumbled.
Goat cheese is the perfect cheese topping
for a salad that is sweet and savory.
And if you've never tried goat cheese,
I hope you fall in love with it with this salad.
Now last but not least, drizzle on
the remaining 1/4 of your salad dressing.
(grunts) You can add it to taste,
or add every last drop 'cause it really is
just the right amount, and the dressing is (kisses).
You'll see.
You'll see when you try it.
Okay, now all that's left to do is to serve it.
And you don't have to toss this to combine it
because remember we already dressed the greens underneath.
So you don't have to make it ugly. (laughs)
You can just serve it as is.
Just have everybody scoop their own portion.
So that's exactly what we're going to do,
because my goodness,
I love that this is staring back at me.
This is such a satisfying salad, and I am hungry.
We're going to jump right into this taste test.
Here we go.
Oh, yummy yum.
I love how the kale becomes tender
and soft with the dressing,
but it never gets soggy, which is amazing.
You know, unlike romaine or other simple greens.
This one, actually, if you have leftovers,
you can store it in the fridge
and the next day have the most amazing lunch.
And it's had a chance to like meld
with the flavors of the dressing.
Like every bite of sweet potato in the leftovers
is just, mwah, you'll see. (laughs)
This is one of those salads, a rare thing, right?
A green salad that keeps well in the fridge.
Love it, love it.
Okay, here we go.
My favorite part.
Okay, and I want to make sure
I get a little bit of everything on my fork.
Yum.
Mm, mm.
Wow.
Every bite of that kale is so tender
and loaded with flavor
because it's coated with the dressing.
Oh, (laughs) it's so good.
And I love the crisp apples, the crunchy toasted pecans,
and make sure you toast them
because it adds a ton of flavor.
And if you wanted to use a different nut,
that's totally fine.
Anything from sliced almonds, to pine nuts,
or really whatever kind of nut you want to use in there.
But toasting takes them to the next level with flavor.
And then of course the sweet potatoes.
And adding that little bit of maple syrup
to the sweet potatoes just intensifies their sweetness
and really brings out their flavor.
Roasting sweet potatoes is my favorite way to prepare them,
and putting them in a salad is genius. (laughs)
And then there's the cranberries.
And if you want to be fancy or say,
if you're making this for Thanksgiving,
like we did last year, we totally used pomegranate seeds.
Those are such a treat when they're in season,
because they give you like this burst of juiciness
in your mouth and it is just holiday worthy.
You know what I'm saying? (laughs)
And then the goat cheese is so creamy and delicious.
If you've never tried goat cheese, I don't know.
I hope you're inspired to try it in this salad.
It is just a winning combination of flavors and textures.
I'm sure this is going to be a new favorite for you.
And I'm going to go eat this,
'cause it's just really good and I'm hungry. (laughs)
So we'll see you in our next video.
- [Man] Okay, it's recording.
- You want the wind?
- It's here. - Okay.
(upbeat music)