Lemony Kale and Chickpea Salad

Thanks for sharing!

This salad is super simple but oh so good. Kale and chickpeas are married with a bright lemon dressing for a flavorful and nutritious salad.

     This simple salad is packed full of nutrition. With a simple lemon and olive oil dressing, it is a perfect summer side. Unlike most salads, it is actually better if it has a while to sit in the dressing making it a perfect make ahead for entertaining as well. All you have to do at meal time is toss and serve!

     We finally did it! After years of talking about joining the local CSA, we finally just did it. We were hesitant because there are always points in the summer when it’s hard to keep up with our own garden.

    After much hemming and hawing we decided it would be a great way to force variety into our vegetable routine. Plus it speaks to our shop local when we can desires. It doesn’t get much more local than the farm we drive by regularly.

    For those of you unfamiliar with CSAs, it stands for Community Supported Agriculture.  Basically we paid a fee to join before spring, giving the farmers the capital to buy seeds and supplies.

   Then we get weekly boxes of produce filled with a variety if whatever is in season. We are really looking forward to seeing what all we get over the course of the next 17 weeks.

    We decided to purchase a half share because we do have our own garden that usually is pretty plentiful, but our first box was still brimming with goodies.

    Hopefully this will translate into a lot more seasonal produce heavy recipes here as well.  If you are used to coming to my corner of the internet for cakes and frosting, don’t panic!

    I am sure there will still be plenty of that as well. I mean, I am still me after all!

     Of course this time of year it was heavy on greens including a generous bunch of curly kale. Usually I cook kale in things like soup, on zuppa inspired pizza, even in quiche or baked into chips.

    However as hot as it’s been and as busy as we’ve been with my brother’s wedding and sister’s graduation I thought a kale salad would be a nice change.

     Normally the kale salads I’ve had use a sweet dressing and dried fruit to balance out the kale. I wanted to try something different this time though.

    We were planning to grill up some lemon and yogurt marinated chicken, so this simple salad dressed with lemon and olive oil called to me.

    While kale has a reputation for being a bit tough and slightly bitter, you can easily combat that with a little planning. First, be sure to remove the ribs.

    Then go ahead and run your knife through it to chop it relatively finely. While this is discouraged with more delicate greens, it is encouraged with kale!

    Also, go ahead and dress the salad a few hours ahead in you can. The prolonged exposure to the lemon juice, oil and salt help make for a milder texture and flavor in the kale and you don’t have to worry about soggy salad.

    I encourage you to try this bright and fresh salad with your next bunch of kale as well. Meanwhile in case we get more kale next week, what are your favorite summer kale recipes?

More great salad recipes:

• Red, White and Blueberry Dinner Salad is a perfect mix of sweet and savory with a little patriotic coloring thrown in for good measure!
• Summer Corn Salad is another CSA favorite. It has all of the fresh summer produce favorites on a base of corn instead of greens!
• Bok Choy Salad with Apples and Peanut Dressing is full of crunchy goodness and the flavor combo is fun too. it is definitely a must make!

Thanks for sharing!