Lacinato Kale and Roasted Sweet Potato Salad (Plus Variations!)

Kale is a hearty green. It is tough and fibrous and people think you have to cook it to make it palatable. But kale can be fabulous raw, in big-time cold weather salads that double as a meal. One of my favorite combinations is finely shredded raw Lacinato Kale (also called Tuscan, Cavolo Nero, or Dinosaur kale) with roasted sweet potato. The slight bitterness of kale and the sweetness of the sweet potato are a perfect combination.

Basic Kale and Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

Work ahead: roast sweet potatoes. Scrub sweet potatoes and cut into bite-sized chunks. Toss the sweet potato chunks with enough olive oil to lightly coat and season with salt and pepper. Roast on a sheet-pan in a 400 degree oven until tender all the way through and browned on the outside, about 30 minutes depending on the size of your chunks. Let cool. Sweet potatoes may be roasted and kept refrigerated for several days.

When you are ready to assemble your salad, wash kale and dry well.

Chiffonade kale by stacking leaves and slicing across the leaves into thin ribbons. Smaller leaves can be used whole, but any stems larger than a pencil should be stripped out and composted.

Season your kale with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Add the roasted sweet potatoes into the kale and give everything a toss.

This is a fine basic salad all by itself. But since every few weeks through the cold season, I make some variation of this salad, I like to mix it up a bit. Possibilities abound.

Kale and Roasted Sweet Potato Salad Variations on a Theme

In my most recent version of this salad I added thin-sliced onions that I marinated in a little red wine vinegar for about 20 minutes. Tasty.

Nick’s favorite variation includes cooked, cooled wheat berries (or a wheat berry equivalent like spelt, tritacale, kamut, etc.). You could also add small pasta, like orzo. This makes for a very substantial vegetarian entree salad.

I also like adding marinated, jarred artichoke hearts. Look how chunky and delicious that is.

I’m sure there are dozens of things you could add to make this salad your own. If, like me, you live in a place where growing sweet potatoes is a bit of a fool’s quest, but you want to keep the produce 100% from the garden, you can substitute roasted butternut squash or another firm-fleshed winter squash for the sweet potato.

Do you ever eat raw kale in salad? What are your favorite ways to use my favorite vegetable?

Kale and Roasted Sweet Potato Salad Printable Recipe

2-3 medium sweet potatoes
2-3 bunches kale, preferably Kavalo Nero or Russian Red
Olive Oil, 2-3 tbsp or to taste, plus more for coating sweet potatoes
Red Wine Vinegar, 2-3 tbsp or to taste
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Optional (choose any, all, or a combination)
2 cups cooked wheat berries, tritacale, farro or kamut
1 cup marinated artichoke hearts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 medium finely sliced red or sweet white onion

Work ahead: roast sweet potatoes. Scrub sweet potatoes and cut into bite-sized chunks. Toss sweet potato chunks with enough olive oil to lightly coat and season with salt and pepper. Roast on a sheetpan in a 400 degree oven until tender all the way through and browned on the outside, about 30 minutes depending on the size of your chunks. Let cool. Sweet potatoes may be roasted and kept refrigerated for several days.

When you are ready to assemble your salad, wash kale and dry well.  Chiffonade kale by stacking leaves and slicing across the leaves into thin ribbons. Smaller leaves can be used whole, but any stems larger than a pencil should be stripped out and composted.

Season your kale. Add the olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Add the roasted sweet potatoes into the kale and give everything a toss. This is a fine basic salad all by itself.

 

 

2