Spring Kale Panzanella

This very green salad couldn’t be more timely. Jack and I spent all weekend tasting inhaling food at the Austin Food & Wine fest. And then we spent last night in some sort of food coma. Overall, I think we showed pretty good restraint… That is until Saturday night’s “Rock your Taco” event. We rocked tacos alright… And then a few tacos rocked us.

But no regrets… kale to the rescue. A big bowl of it. This salad is part marinated kale and part and panzanella. Two of my favorite salads, together as one. Kale, fennel slices, peas and feta are all tossed with a lemony dijon vinaigrette. With ciabatta cubes to soak it up.

This is great as a light dinner on it’s own, or perfect alongside some grilled salmon.

spring kale panzanella

 

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Author: Jeanine Donofrio

Serves: serves 2-3 as a side, scale accordingly

Ingredients

• 2 cups chopped kale
• ¼ cup thinly sliced fennel, plus some chopped fronds
• ½ cup cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1.5 cups stale bread (ciabatta or similar), cubed
• ¼ cup peas
• ¼ cup feta cheese, crumbled or cubed (omit if vegan)
• a few toasted pine nuts, optional

dressing:

• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• juice & zest of one lemon
• ½ teaspoon (or so) dijon mustard
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• salt & pepper

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing.
2. In a large bowl, place the kale and fennel. Pour in some of the dressing, and a bit of salt. Using your hands, massage the kale together with the dressing so that the coarse kale leaves become a bit tender. Toss in the fennel and white beans, and let that all marinate together for 15-30 minutes.
3. Toss everything else into the bowl including the remainder of the dressing. Taste and adjust seasonings. This is best if you let it sit at room temp for 20 (or more) minutes.

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