Kale Salad with Dried Cherries and Toasted Pecans

I have been paging through the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, trying to decide what recipe to try first.  The book is beautiful to look at and the recipes are interesting and easy to follow. The ingredients in the recipes are readily available and I have a lot of them in my kitchen already.  I love this cookbook - can you tell? (Thanks H!!)

After reading Deb's (Author of Smitten Kitchen) description of raw kale - healthy, but tough & bitter - and then reading on to learn that she found a way to make kale not only palatable, but delicious, I knew I had to try it.   I made this kale salad as a side this weekend and it was wonderful.  My husband and I ate the entire bowl (serves 4). 

Kale Salad with Dried Cherries and Toasted Pecans Recipe

Recipe adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook 

3 cups of Dino Kale, or Tuscan Kale

4 medium radishes, thinly sliced

1/2 cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup dried cherries, coarsely chopped

2 ounces soft goat cheese, chilled

Dressing

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons honey

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and spread pecans on a tray.  Toast them for 5-10 minutes, tossing them once or twice to make sure they toast evenly.  Remove from oven and set aside.  

Wash the kale and dry with paper towel. Then, with a knife, remove the rib from each stalk.  Stack the leaves in small batches, roll them tightly the long way and cut the roll crosswise into thin ribbons. Toss with pecans, dried cherries and radishes. Crumble goat cheese on the top. 

Whisk dressing ingredients together in a small dish and pour the dressing over the salad.  Toss the salad until it is evenly coated with dressing.  You can eat the salad right away, but it gets better after 20 minutes of tenderizing in the dressing.