Our garden is growing fast!! I’m always surprised how easy it is to grow greens from seed. We live on massaged greens salads in the summer time – most often made from a mix of kales.
This is our favorite version. The sesame oil really helps stand up to the kale flavor, the rice vinegar adds a touch of sweetness, and herbs provide depth.
Our herbs aren’t just right outside the door, so I often bring a few up to the kitchen and put them in water for the week for easy grabbing for recipes. Snip whatever you have on hand into the kale for this recipe – I recommend dill, basil and mint.
Start with a big salad spinner of greens – maybe 4-6 cups?
The dressing is super simple – just 1 tbsp sesame oil, 2 tsp rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, and a few pinches of your favorite salad salt. Add a little more or less of everything depending on the amount of greens you have.
Pour that over the greens and squeeze the kale with clean hands for about a minute.
Top with some optional parmesan cheese and you are good to go!
The best part is this salad will last in your fridge for a few days. Wilting is desired!
I topped mine with a No Bull Burger, some cheese, cashews and crackers.
[email protected] says
July 9, 2015 at 9:42 amThat looks great!! We have a mini garden in our city yard and I’m dying for the tomatoes to be ready!
Erin @ Her Heartland Soul says
July 9, 2015 at 10:49 amI love fresh greens in the summer! Yum!
Elyse says
July 9, 2015 at 11:06 amI love fresh from the garden greens!
Jessica says
July 9, 2015 at 11:47 amYum! I love that this will hold up in the fridge for a few days since I like to prep in advance. I will definitely try it!
Cassie says
July 9, 2015 at 1:02 pmI never knew you had a garden! It is absolutely stunning–so big and green! Plus, you can make gorgeous summer salads such as the one you created!
Eileen says
July 9, 2015 at 3:26 pmSesame oil sounds so good with kale! This is definitely going on my to-make list.
Sagan says
July 9, 2015 at 4:34 pmLove it! Thank you so much for this simple explanation. I’ve never quite *gotten* the whole massaged greens thing… but this really helps!
It also looks delicious 😀
Linda @ The Fitty says
July 9, 2015 at 7:29 pmsesame oil is common in chinese cooking 🙂
elizabeth says
July 9, 2015 at 9:32 pmI can’t tell if you’re using toasted or plain sesame oil?
KathEats says
July 10, 2015 at 8:46 amJust says 100% pure Japanese sesame oil….but I think it is toasted?
lisa @bitesforbabies says
July 10, 2015 at 1:23 amI love making greens like this…they’re so flavourful and the fact that they don’t need to be cooked is a plus!
Alex @ get big, go to work says
July 10, 2015 at 7:02 amSo much kale!! I am so jealous (in a good way! 🙂 ) of all the kale growing in your garden. It is my favorite veggie. I know taking care of a garden is time intensive, but it must feel so good to pick your own veggies and herbs to incorporate into your dinner each night. What a bountiful harvest and a great season.
Kori says
July 10, 2015 at 8:28 amI haven’t made a massaged kale salad in a while, but this sure has inspired me!
Katie @ Peace Love & Oats says
July 10, 2015 at 8:35 amGreat idea for some night-before lunch prep!
Sue Bunton says
July 10, 2015 at 9:10 amIs your salad salt homemade? If so, could you share the recipe?
KathEats says
July 10, 2015 at 10:43 amIt’s a local blend called Peg’s Salt!
Jessica Wynn says
July 13, 2015 at 2:44 amI’ve tried massaged kales before and didn’t like it very much. I tried this recipe at the weekend, but substituted rice vinegar for mirin, and sesame oil for rapeseed (all I had in the cupboard!).
Oh wow! Really was very good, and I’m not even a fan of mustard! Think kale is so strong its needs something very robust to pair with it. Was even better the next day! Perfect for lunches at work.
juli says
July 14, 2015 at 2:41 pmI was growing some kale in a hanging basket and it looked wonderful until I decided to have a salad one day and found it loaded with cabbage worms!! Yikes! I am now starting all over and hope I can have another crop. Do you ever have any garden pests??
KathEats says
July 14, 2015 at 6:30 pmYikes! We haven’t had too many problems with pests – except deer at one house and worms in broccoli!
Jessica says
July 16, 2015 at 12:02 pmFor the past week or two, I’ve had a hard time reading your site. There is a video ad box in the top right hand corner with continuously playing ads (Bounty, Minions, Ritz crackers, etc.). As I try to scroll down and read your post, the page is constantly redirected back up to the top to watch the ads again. I’ve tried watching the ads to see if it will then allow me to read in peace or pausing the ads, and it still does the same thing. Any ides what changed?
KathEats says
July 16, 2015 at 5:26 pmWe’ve had a hard time catching these ads that are sneaking through the filters. Thanks for telling me – I will alert my ad guy.