Spring
Salad with Kale, Snap Peas and Lemony Feta Dressing
- Serves 4
Author Notes
I had just bought my own copy of Food52 cookbook (volume 1) and came across a salad with green beans and feta. I dashed to my grocery store, scoured it and failed to sight any green beans. Not to be discouraged, I decided to swap the beans with crispy sugar snap peas and decided to throw in some black kale because lo and behold, it was the first time I saw black kale on display at my local grocery store! I also wanted to add more Eastern mediterranean touches to the overall flavour of the salad by adding in sumac and just a subtle hint of cinnamon to the dressing. —StrawberryGirl
What You'll Need
Ingredients
-
2 cups
sugar snap peas
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1 bunch
kale (I used black kale), washed and spun dry
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4-5 leaves
romaine
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2 sprigs
fresh oregano
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1/4 cup
very thinly sliced red onion
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2/3 cup
feta
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1 pinch
salt
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4-5 grinds
pepper
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2 rounded teaspoons
sumac
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1/4 teaspoon
cinnamon
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juice of about half a juicy lemon
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Zest of 1 lemon
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1 teaspoon
red wine vinegar
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5 tablespoons
extra virgin olive oil
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1 clove
garlic
Directions
- Wash and blanch the sugar snap peas for no longer than 2 minutes. Make sure they are still on the crispy side. Run them under cold running water in a sieve and put the sieve over a bowl to drain. Once drained, chop them into 1/4 inch bite-sized chunks.
- Wash and chop up the kale. Then spin them dry in 2-3 batches in a salad spinner. Preheat your oven to 375 F. Spread out the kale on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper and warm the leafy greens for 5 minutes. You can skip this altogether if your kale is on the tender side. Just make sure that they are properly dried and not drippy with water after the washing.
- Tear up the washed and dried romaine leaves and top them with the kale and the snap peas.
- Thinly slice the red onions into fine slivers and add to the salad mix.
- Chop up the oregano leaves and with your hands, crumble the slab of feta over the oregano. Then add the lemon zest and finely chopped garlic to this and rub the mixture with your fingers until it is smelling lovely and fragrant. Add this feta crumble to the salad.
- Make the dressing by whisking together the lemon juice, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, sumac, cinnamon and extra virgin olive oil. But I actually just throw them into the salad bowl one by one. It helps save an extra mixing bowl to wash later.
- Mix the salad with your clean hands and let it develop flavour in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving. Serve the salad a little on the cold (but not frigid) side. I made this to go along with some rib-eye steaks and I think it will go well with any grilled meats, especially roast lamb.
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