I know you are thinking seriously Liz…. massaged kale??? WHAT THE? But wait it is so good 🙂 massaging changes the flavour of the kale from a little bitter, to very sweet, just with a little elbow grease or thermomix power depending on how you role!

You can just eat it on its own with the kale oil, lemon juice and salt, but I get bored, so I add garlic and some chilli sometimes. Then I discovered that it is great as a part of a green salad as well, you can just have the kale or you can add some extra lettuce to fill it out, really anything you like… but make it green. I often have this salad, then make a tomato basil and mozzarella salad to go with it!

It is great for a BBQ as you can even massage the kale the day before and store it in the fridge. The longer you massage, the sweeter the kale but no more than 5 minutes, by that time your wrist is getting sore!

This recipe feeds about 10 people, so pick and choose what you want to do… I always massage a whole bunch of kale and keep it in an airtight container for the next couple of days. Thanks must go to my friend Linda who introduced me to massaged kale, I don’t know how I lived without it!

Ingredients

1/2 – 1 Lettuce (iceberg, cos, mixed you choose what you like)

1 Bunch of Curly Kale (other kale works, but this is the best and try to get organic)

200g Snow Peas

1 – 2 Bunches Asparagus

1 Green Capsicum

1 Cucumber

2 Avocados

3 Shallots

1 – 2 Clove Garlic

20g Olive Oil

20g Lemon/Lime Juice

Pinch of Salt

Mixed nuts and seeds.

Method

1. Blanche asparagus, by dropping in boiling water then straight into cold water. Set aside on paper towel to cool.

2. Crush garlic and place in a large bowl with lemon juice and salt and add kale leaves roughly chopped with stems removed.

3. With your hand massage kale for a minim of 1 minute, making sure that the dressing gets all over the kale and it starts to change colour. If you massage for 5 minutes, the kale goes from being bitter to nice and sweet… taste it along the way so you can see at what stage you like it.

4. when you have finished massaging, toss through the oil and give it a quick once over.

5. Break apart lettuce, chop up snow peas, cucumber and capsicum into desired sizes thinly slice shallots.  Gently slice avocado into presentation slices.

6. Place kale and all other ingredients except avocado into a large serving bowl and toss so that all ingredients are combined well. Gently place avocado slices on the top and squeeze a bit more lemon juice over the top and sprinkle with your choice of nuts and seeds.

THERMOMIX METHOD

1. To blanche Asparagus, cut in half and place into mixing basket. Fill mixing bowl with 1500g of water and heat 10 minutes/Varoma/speed 2. When boiled, use the spatula and place the mixing basket (that has the asparagus in it) into the mixing bowl and heat 1 minute/Varoma/speed 4, then remove and place immediately into cold water. Set aside to cool. (if you are making a lot of asparagus, you may need to do it in batches.

2. Place garlic into mixing bowl and mince 3 seconds/speed 7.

3. Add roughly ripped kale leaves (stems removed) and chop 4 seconds/speed 5 using the spatula to help it move around.

4. Add lemon juice and salt and massage kale 2 – 4 minutes/reverse/soft spoon.

5. Add oil to mixing bowl and massage for 1 minute/reverse/soft spoon.

6. Break apart lettuce, chop up snow peas, cucumber and capsicum into desired sizes and thinly slice shallots.  Gently slice avocado into presentation slices.

7. Place kale and all other ingredients except avocado into a large serving bowl and toss so that all ingredients are combined well. Gently place avocado slices on the top and squeeze a bit more lemon juice over the top and sprinkle with your choice of nuts and seeds.

There you have it, my version of massaged kale salad. We are coming into summer (it was 42 degrees here on the Gold Coast yesterday) What is your favourite salad and have you tried anything new or strange flavour combinations in a salad?

Thank for stopping by my blog and don’t forget I would love to hear from you!

Enjoy Irresponsibly!

Liz x

Elizabeth Connolly

subscribe to receive 3 FREE eBooks

I have been cooking since I can remember. I am a Thermomix consultant, so now (whenever possible) try to give you Conventional AND Thermomix methods for the recipes. I like to share tips on how to save money and how making food from scratch isn't really that hard (especially with a Thermomix). If you have any questions about the Thermomix or cooking/food in general please email me as I'm happy to chat.
Liz xx
P.S Don't forget to subscribe to receive your 3 free e-Books.