Citrus Tahini Kale Salad
With the holidays being over I am craving a kale salad in a major way. I mean we went from summer, to 2 seconds of fall, to a baked goods manifesto over the holidays, and now here we are. This salad is currently giving me life and is a right of passage to embracing the winter season. Mmmk?
The dressing has tahini blended with fresh citrus, standing up nicely to the leafy kale and bulger base. It also has pops of flavor from spiced pistachios and fresh mint. There you have it, your basic tabouleh/kale salad has been winterized.
Lets take a moment to talk about citrus. At this time of year, it is on point! There are so many varieties out there. I love cara cara oranges because of their slightly pinkish color and they have a little more sweetness and tang than traditional naval oranges. Blood oranges are stunning for their ruby color and notes of berry. And, tangerines, are delicious for their strong, tart flavor. One of my favorite ways to really elevate citrus is to supreme it! No I am not talking about the hip fashion line. Supreming is a technique where you are essentially removing the rind of the citrus and cutting into slices. It allows the beautiful bejeweled colors of the citrus to shine through.
How to supreme citrus:
1. First trim the end of the citrus. This allows you to see where the rind meets the flesh.
2. Next, gently wedge your knife between the rind and flesh and cut off the peel.
3. Once fully pealed, slice the citrus into pieces of desired width. Now you have bejeweled citrus!
If there is any bit of winter blues, hit this salad up. Its loaded with vitamin C, bright colors, and will fill you up from head to toe 😉
Citrus Tahini Kale Salad
Ingredients
Citrus Tahini Dressing
- ½ cup tahini
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- â…” cup tangerine or any orange variety juice
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, grated
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp water
Kale Salad
- 8 cups chopped kale, any variety works
- 4-5 of any citrus, I used cara cara and blood oranges in this picture, supreme cut*
- red onion, few thin slices, (optional)
- ½ lemon
- 5-6 mint leaves, coarsely chopped or torn
Spiced Pistachios
- ½ cup raw unsalted pistachios (if you have salted on hand, just reduce the salt)
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp ground coriander
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
- pinch of ground red pepper, (optional)
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp honey
Bulger
- 1 cup medium grain bulger
- 1 cup water
- juice of ½ a lemon
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F.
Bulger
- Mix bulger, water, lemon juice and salt in a bowl and allow to sit at room temperature for an hour or so, mixing occasionally. Once liquid is absorbed fluff with a fork. **
Citrus Tahini Dressing
- Whisk together tahini, lemon juice, tangerine (or other citrus juice), garlic and water until combined.
Spiced Pistachios
- Place parchment paper on a baking sheet. Mix cumin, coriander, cardamom, salt and ground red pepper (if using) together in a small bowl. Place pistachios on baking sheet and drizzle honey on top and give a quick toss. Sprinkle spice mixture and give another quick toss. Bake for about 7 minutes, mixing pistachios midway. Once out of the oven, add a light sprinkle of salt and mix.
- This makes a decent amount of spiced pistachios. You can decide to use all or save some for snaking later. Either way is delicious!
Kale Salad Assembly
- Pour tahini dressing on to kale and toss for about a minute.
- Add red onion (if using) and bulger to kale and toss to combine. Add juice of half a lemon.
- Plate salad and scatter supremed citrus, spiced pistachios and torn mint.
- This salad stores well for up to 2-3 days in your fridge. Enjoy!
Notes
