Grilled Bread and Kale Salad With Red Onions, Walnuts, and Figs, From 'Heart of the Plate

Name: Grilled Bread and Kale Salad With Red Onions, Walnuts, and Figs, From 'Heart of the Plate
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Global
Ingredients: 1 loaf ciabatta or sourdough baguette (fresh or day-old); 2 Tbsps balsamic vinegar; 2 servings Black pepper; 5 5–6 ripe figs; 2 small bunches large or (1/2 pound total) lacinato kale; 1 Tbsp 1–2 tablespoons fresh lemon or lime juice; 2 servings Lemon or lime wedges; 3 Tbsps extra-virgin olive oil; 85 grams Parmesan cheese; 1 small red onion, cut in half and then into 1/4-inch slices; 0 teaspoons salt; 1 handful A or two walnut halves, toasted and coarsely chopped

You can never have too many main course recipes, so give Grilled Bread and Kale Salad With Red Onions, Walnuts, and Figs, From 'Heart of the Plate a try. This recipe serves 2. One portion of this dish contains approximately 42g of protein, 49g of fat, and a total of 1054 calories. If you have figs, balsamic vinegar, pepper, and a few other ingredients on hand, you can make it. To use up the salt you could follow this main course with the Apple Turnovers Recipe as a dessert. It is perfect for The Fourth Of July. From preparation to the plate, this recipe takes around 35 minutes.

Instructions

Stem the figs and slice them lengthwise into about 5 wedges per fig.

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Figs

Place them in a medium dish and sprinkle with the lemon or lime juice. Toss gently to coat and set aside.

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Lime Juice

Lemon

Shave strips of Parmesan from the block of cheese, using a sturdy vegetable peeler. Lovely cheese ribbons will ensue. Set aside.

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Vegetable

Parmesan

Cheese

Equipment you will use

Peeler

Slice the bread into approximately a dozen thin (as in almost see-through) slices. Larger slices from a ciabatta can be halved for easier handling and consumption. Set aside.

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Ciabatta

Bread

Hold each kale leaf by the stem and use a very sharp knife to release the leaf from the stem (it’s OK to leave the narrow part of the stem that blends into the leaf farther up). Make a pile of the leaves, roll them up tightly, and cut crosswise into super-thin strips.

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Kale

Roll

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Knife

Transfer to a large bowl of cold water and swish around to clean. Spin very dry and transfer to a large bowl. Set aside.

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Water

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Bowl

Heat a large deep skillet over medium heat for about a minute.

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Frying Pan

Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and swirl to coat the pan. Turn up the heat to medium-high and add the onion and 1/8 teaspoon of the salt. Cook, stirring and/or shaking the pan a little, for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the onion becomes shiny and is still this side of tender.

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Olive Oil

Onion

Salt

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Frying Pan

Transfer the hot onion to the kale in the bowl and stir everything around a bit, then return the entire bowlful of kale-plus-onions to the pan. Stir-fry quickly—just for a minute or so—over medium-high heat until the kale turns an even deeper shade of green and wilts slightly.

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Onion

Kale

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Bowl

Frying Pan

Return it all to the bowl, tossing in the remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt. You can add some of the cheese at this point, if you’d like it to melt in slightly.

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Cheese

Salt

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Bowl

Remove the pan from the heat, wait a minute or two, then add the vinegar to the pan (stand back—it will sizzle), swirl it around, and pour what’s left of it into the kale. (It will mostly evaporate.)

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Vinegar

Kale

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Frying Pan

Without bothering to clean the pan, return it to the stove over medium heat. Wait another minute, then add the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and swirl to coat the pan.

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Olive Oil

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Stove

Frying Pan

Add the bread slices in a single layer and grill on each side until lightly golden and perfectly crisp.

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Bread

Equipment you will use

Grill

Transfer the toasts to the kale, along with the figs and all their juice and the shaved cheese to taste. Toss quickly (no need to get things uniform), adding the remaining cheese and the walnuts as you go.

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Walnuts

Cheese

Juice

Figs

Kale

Serve right away, passing a pepper mill and offering wedges of lemon or lime to be aimed straight at the figs.

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Pepper

Lemon

Figs

Lime

Equipment you will use

Pepper Grinder

Optional enhancements:Not a fig person? You can swap in a crisp fall apple, sliced thin and lemon juice-doused. Go in an entirely different direction and substitute slices or chunks of a very sweet ripe heirloom tomato or a few handfuls of very sweet, ripe cherry tomatoes.

Ingredients you will need

Cherry Tomato