Roasted Kale Salad Question

[Shel_B]

I want to make a roasted kale salad, but I suspect that adding dressing, even minimal dressing, will cause the kale to lose any "crunch" it may have. Is there a way to maintain the crunchiness with the use of a dressing? Perhaps adding the dressing immediately before eating would mitigate the problem. Or perhaps a certain kind of dressing would be helpful in this situation.

I'm also thinking of adding roasted crimini mushrooms to the kale along with slow baked and well drained bacon, if that makes a difference. Thanks.

Edited October 7, 2013 by Shel_B (log)

[Smithy]

How do you plan to roast the kale at the outset, without losing its crunch?

[Shel_B]

How do you plan to roast the kale at the outset, without losing its crunch?

Your question makes it seem that there are several ways to roast kale. I was just going to trim the leaves, add a scosh of olive oil, maybe some S&P, and put the kale in a slow oven for a few minutes. Right now, I'm not sure of the time and temp, but I was thinking of about 250-275 degrees for seven to ten minutes, with constant observation.

Edited October 7, 2013 by Shel_B (log)

[Smithy]

I just tried making kale chips for the first time last weekend. The recipe called for deveining the leaves, cutting the flat greenery into smaller pieces (roughly 2"), tossing with olive oil and salt, and roasting at 275 until crisp, turning once. The results of that operation were so crisp as to be brittle; I'd be more concerned that the kale would fragment into tiny shards during the tossing-and-dressing stage than with their getting soggy. But yes, I think your idea of dressing the salad at the last minute is a good precaution. Maybe if the leaves are left larger - apparently what you are planning to do - you'd end up with a balance between crisp enough for good texture and flexible enough to allow tossing.

Hmm. Maybe if you did have brittle leaves you could fracture them as a top layer over the rest of the salad. Kale croutons, anyone?

Please understand I'm just brainstorming here, based on my miniscule experience of last weekend. By the way, I think the roasting time was about 20 minutes for my chips at 275.

[Ttogull]

My favorite method of cooking greens is roasting them. It has been since I tried Thomas Keller's in Ad Hoc At Home.

Clean and dry the greens. Preheat a Dutch oven on stove. Add oil. TK uses bacon grease; I use minimal canola or grape seed. Wilt the greens in batches. Put them all in the Dutch oven and cover, and put Dutch oven in preheated 325 F oven.

For hearty greens, like kale and collards, I do 45 minutes. For less hearty, like chard or beet, maybe 30 minutes.

After, I pull the Dutch oven out and let it sit until dinner is ready. TK says leave in the oven, but I don't like as much.

Bits will be crispy, but some soft. I separate the stems and put those in too as they will be mosly tender after cooking, depending on your fiber preferences.

You can also throw them straight on a grill grate. Amazing the heat they can survive! I do this, but don't move them. Scoop up and plate upside down so the top is crispy and charred and the bottom is soft and sort of "steamed." I read that a vegan restaurant in NYC does this, and I love it.

[Shel_B]

I just tried making kale chips for the first time last weekend. The recipe called for deveining the leaves, cutting the flat greenery into smaller pieces (roughly 2"), tossing with olive oil and salt, and roasting at 275 until crisp, turning once. The results of that operation were so crisp as to be brittle; I'd be more concerned that the kale would fragment into tiny shards during the tossing-and-dressing stage than with their getting soggy. But yes, I think your idea of dressing the salad at the last minute is a good precaution. Maybe if the leaves are left larger - apparently what you are planning to do - you'd end up with a balance between crisp enough for good texture and flexible enough to allow tossing.

Hmm. Maybe if you did have brittle leaves you could fracture them as a top layer over the rest of the salad. Kale croutons, anyone?

Please understand I'm just brainstorming here, based on my miniscule experience of last weekend. By the way, I think the roasting time was about 20 minutes for my chips at 275.

Well, I don't want chips, just something that has some light crunch around the edges but where a good portion of the leaf has some texture, but not so much as to become brittle. I'm convinced that with the right time/temp, and proper prep, I can get a leaf that has that crunchy-soft combination. I suspect that the edges of the leaves will get crunchy long before the center part.

I do like the idea of kale croutons ... that's brilliant! Thanks!

[Shel_B]

My favorite method of cooking greens is roasting them. It has been since I tried Thomas Keller's in Ad Hoc At Home.

Clean and dry the greens. Preheat a Dutch oven on stove. Add oil. TK uses bacon grease; I use minimal canola or grape seed. Wilt the greens in batches. Put them all in the Dutch oven and cover, and put Dutch oven in preheated 325 F oven.

For hearty greens, like kale and collards, I do 45 minutes. For less hearty, like chard or beet, maybe 30 minutes.

After, I pull the Dutch oven out and let it sit until dinner is ready. TK says leave in the oven, but I don't like as much.

Bits will be crispy, but some soft. I separate the stems and put those in too as they will be mosly tender after cooking, depending on your fiber preferences.

You can also throw them straight on a grill grate. Amazing the heat they can survive! I do this, but don't move them. Scoop up and plate upside down so the top is crispy and charred and the bottom is soft and sort of "steamed." I read that a vegan restaurant in NYC does this, and I love it.

Thanks for the ideas. Later today I'll be harvesting some kale from our garden, and I'll start experimenting with technique this evening.

[Smithy]

I have some bodaciously huge intact kale leaves and I'm going to try the roasting idea myself. Do you have any lessons so far that you'd care to share?

[Shel_B]

I have some bodaciously huge intact kale leaves and I'm going to try the roasting idea myself. Do you have any lessons so far that you'd care to share?

Well, I've only made one batch, and it didn't turn out quite as I hoped. It was OK, but I was looking for a somewhat different texture, and these came out too crisp, more like a chip.

Here's what I did: I stemmed the kale leaves and gave 'em a nice dice with pieces about 1 1/2 inches square - more or less. I made sure the pieces were very dry. Then I put some good olive oil on my hands and lightly oiled the kale. I had to do this a couple-three times. I suppose you could just put the kale in a bowl and pour the olive oil over, and then mix, but I wanted a very light coating on the leaves, and felt that I could get more even distribution by oiling my hands.

Then, when the leaves seemed about right, I put them on a jelly roll pan lined with parchment paper and spread them evenly, after which I added a very light dusting of salt and fresh ground black pepper.

I put the pan into a preheated 250-degree oven and roasted for about 10 minutes - I'm just estimating the time as I watched the kale closely and took out the pan when the leaves looked done. Unfortunately, for what I wanted, they were a bit overdone, I need to better understand what the leaves will look like at the texture I want, and then I should pay close attention to the time rather than just estimating it.

I also wonder if it might not be better to add S&P after the leaves come out of the oven.

I'll be harvesting more leaves tomorrow and will try again.

I hope this has been of some help to you.

[Smithy]

Yes, thank you. If I get around to my attempt tomorrow, I'll report back.

[sandrew834]

This has a unique twist on a regular kale salad I make with tannin-garlic dressing. I mixed the roasted kale with a spicy salad mix from the farmers market, toasted some walnuts, and made the dressing with nutritional yeast. I’m glad I have some kale left so I make it again for myself tomorrow! I love that it has strong flavors but they’re balanced well.

[Smithy]

This has a unique twist on a regular kale salad I make with tannin-garlic dressing. I mixed the roasted kale with a spicy salad mix from the farmers market, toasted some walnuts, and made the dressing with nutritional yeast. I’m glad I have some kale left so I make it again for myself tomorrow! I love that it has strong flavors but they’re balanced well.

Your post sounds interesting, but I'm a bit confused. Dressing made with yeast? Tannin-garlic dressing? Could you give more information, please?