chopped kale salad with smoky pecan paprika vinaigrette

This dinner-sized chopped kale salad is the perfect light but hearty spring meal. It is filled with small bites of apple, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, and Manchego cheese, then tossed with a smoky paprika vinaigrette.

What’s a girl to do when she has a surplus of post-Easter hard-boiled eggs in her fridge and not too much egg salad love in her heart?!

THIS (very much not egg) SALAD. That’s what.

Especially when said girl also has two days worth of Easter desserts in her belly.

For a self-proclaimed agnostic, that’s a whole lot of Easter anything.

But mostly it’s a whole lot of sugar and so salad is basically a necessity at this point. However I can get it.

I imagine many of you are in this post-holiday sugar coma/existential egg crisis as well, so I’m going to recommend a little salad-a-day “cleanse” featuring this bad boy until we’re feeling back to our old selves again.

It is filled with bite-sized bits of fresh and vibrant flavor coming from cucumbers, apples, cherry tomatoes, and of course the front-and-center baby greens (kale and spinach, obvs). Manchego is added to the mix because it’s just such a perfect salad cheese in that it pairs well with so many veggie flavors and is so good that it makes every virtuous bite worth it. And the eggs are there for protein as much as they are to clean out our respective fridges – multi-tasking at its finest.

As good as all that sounds, the dressing is what really holds it all together. It is smoky and sweet and nutty all at the same time. From all the pecans and the olive oil, it can get kind of thick if left in the fridge for long periods of time so make sure to warm it slightly before serving if you find that’s the case with yours. Otherwise, kale stands up pretty well to being left, dressed, in the fridge for a few days. Because of this, you can toss it together ahead of time and take it for lunch all this week.

Chopped Kale Salad with Smoky Pecan Paprika Vinaigrette

 

This dinner-sized chopped kale salad is the perfect light but hearty spring meal. It is filled with small bites of apple, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, and Manchego cheese, then tossed with a smoky paprika vinaigrette.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

For the vinaigrette

• 1 clove garlic
• 3 tbsp sherry vinegar
• 3 tbsp toasted pecans
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tsp maple syrup
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
• ½ tsp sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper

For the salad

• 5 oz baby kale
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
• 1 apple, finely diced
• 1 cup finely diced cucumber
• 4 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
• 8 oz cubed Manchego cheese

Instructions

1. To make the vinaigrette, combine the garlic, sherry vinegar, pecans, smoked paprika, maple syrup, parsley, olive oil, sea salt, and black pepper in a blender. Blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.
2. To make the salad, toss together the baby kale and spinach in a large bowl. Add the cherry tomatoes, apple, cucumber, eggs, and Manchego cubes to the bowl. Dress with the vinaigrette, to taste, and toss to coat.p

source:https://joanne-eatswellwithothers.com/2017/04/13957.html