It’s summer and salad season is here and you can never have enough salad recipes up your sleeve. This Tuscan Kale White Bean Salad is a simple salad with just a few ingredients, but so fresh and tasty.
Kale works amazingly well in salads and you can easily throw some in together with other salad leafy greens. I am a big fan of Kale and I especially love Tuscan Kale, the color is beautifully dark green and bursting with nutrients.
As kale became so popular, it’s readily available throughout the year and you can easily include it in your diet few times a week. Every time I make a soup or a stew I always throw in some leafy green veggies towards the end for an extra goodness.
I don’t often eat kale raw and tend to cook it most of the times, but in a salad and smoothies I make an exception, because it tastes much better. By tossing it with olive oil, the kale will loose some of the toughness and become soft and easier to digest.
However if you rather cook your kale, you can always steam it first for about 5 minutes, leave to cool down and then simply toss with the rest of the ingredients.
Making this salad is simple and doesn’t take a very long time. Wash the kale leaves well and slice into thin ribbons. Sometimes I wash the whole leaves first and sometimes I slice them and wash afterwards.
Discard some of the hard stalks from half way down. Now toss well with olive oil, lemon juice and sea salt until the kale softens, it will loose some volume and wilt as it breaks down.
You can use your hands to massage the kale or just toss it using salad spoons. Now you can add the rest of the ingredients. For the convenience I’ve used canned canellini beans, but if you like you can cook beans from scratch, it would taste even better.
You could also use chickpeas or other style beans, depending on your taste. I’ve added red onion for some crunch and chopped fresh parsley for extra flavor.
This salad will work beautifully as an accompaniment to any meal or even eaten on it’s own for a light lunch. Enjoy:)
- 1 medium bunch Tuscan kale (about 4 cups)
- 1½ cups white beans
- ½ red onion, thinly sliced
- ½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 3tbsp olive oil
- ½ lemon, juice
- sea salt & black pepper
- Thoroughly wash kale leaves and cut into ribbons discarding the very thick stems.
- Place kale into mixing bowl, drizzle with 3tbsp of olive oil and juice from half a lemon, season with sea salt and black pepper and toss until kale softens and becomes wilted. If you prefer you can also massage the kale using your hands.
- Add white beans, thinly sliced red onion, chopped fresh parsley and toss again until mixed through.
- Place into a fridge until ready to serve.
- Enjoy!