Kale Salad with Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette
Perfect as a light lunch or even a meatless Monday dinner option!
Four years ago, I met Jason. He was weird as ever, telling me he couldn’t pronounce my name, even though he was 100% Korean. I was in utter shock but by the end of the night, I gave him my phone number, which was the best decision I’ve ever made.
These four years have gone by so fast, and together, we’ve grown so much. He was with me when I graduated college and grad school, and now he’s completely supportive in this career change with the blog. I’ve seen him leave his 9-5 job that he began post-college, not knowing what he wanted to do, and now he has one year left in his architecture graduate program.
Although the long-distance relationship that we have puts a bit of a strain on our relationship, I could not be happier. Jason has become my best friend, my better half and my superhero.
To celebrate, we made a trip to our favorite restaurant: Lawry’s Prime Rib. It’s actually become a bit of a ritual to celebrate our anniversary here year after year. It’s the one time I can really indulge in meat!
So at Lawry’s, we first start off with their complimentary, piping hot sourdough bread. Now I don’t know about you guys but I am a bit of a carbaholic. And this bread here – yeah, I could totally skip over the prime rib and eat this entire plate for dinner. No joke.
Next up they have this spinning salad to get your appetite going before the main course. It may not look like much but you’ll be sure to finish this salad in the blink of an eye.
Then we have the prime rib where the chef comes by with his cart and slices up the meat right in front of you before ladling off their homemade au jus. With a side of their mashed potatoes, creamed corn and yorkshire pudding, this dish will rock your socks off. I usually get the California cut but if I could handle it, I would totally get the beef bowl!
But with all that meat, there has to be a bit of a balance so today, I bring you a kale salad, chockfull of avocado, quinoa, pomegranate seeds, pecans, and crumbly goat cheese tossed in a Meyer lemon vinaigrette. It’s perfect as a light lunch or even a meatless Monday dinner option.
Kale Salad with Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- 4 cups chopped kale
- 1 avocado, diced
- ½ cup cooked quinoa
- ½ cup pomegranate arils
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- ¼ cup crumbled goat cheese
For the Meyer lemon vinaigrette
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice
- Zest of 1 Meyer lemon
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Instructions
- To make the vinaigrette, whisk together olive oil, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, lemon zest and sugar in a small bowl; set aside.
- To assemble the salad, place kale in a large bowl; top with avocado, quinoa, pomegranate arils, pecans and goat cheese. Pour the dressing on top of the salad and gently toss to combine.
- Serve immediately.
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I just had to check to see if I am following you on Pinterest. I am not! Which is amazing as I swear I cook one to two meals per week from your blog. I think my first was your Korean Beef Bowl. Recently it’s been Apple Coleslaw, Avocado Eggrolls (omg!!), and Pizza Stuffed Zucchini Boats. I host language students from around the world, ages 14-62. It’s important to me to cook great meals for them. Thank you for making that so much easier. This salad will be on this week’s menu for sure as a main dish. I will have to double it as we have 2 twenty something male students who love to eat healthy, but eat they do. Here is a favorite recipe I got from Sunset Magazine yrs ago as a thank you. It’s your style I think http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/green-onion-noodle-soup-10000000682650/
I love kale. I know it sounds weird to lot of people around me but I really do! This salad is just what I needed in my life!
I cannot find Meyer Lemon’s in the grocery store. Any thoughts on what I could use instead?
Feel free to substitute regular lemons if you cannot find Meyer lemons.
Chung-Ah, Just blown away by your recipes, fresh ingredients, we like the same things!!! Your web site has a very nice relaxed feel, beautifully done. Going to start today working through the recipes one by one (or) maybe two at a time. 🙂 The Chicken Pesto Sandwich has a hold on me. Enjoy your day and thank you for sharing. Joyce S., Norton Shores, MI
Just made this salad after receiving a link from my sister, and WOW!!! It’s SO delicious. I followed your recipe with only one exception – I used POM juice in place of the agave nectar (not a big agave fan). It was just terrific. And now I’m checking out a bunch of your other recipes too… Thanks for all the great inspiring ideas!
I made this salad last night – with a few swaps: honey instead of agave, walnuts instead of pecans and 1cup of kale was TJ’s cruciferous crunch mix, added a 1/2 cup chickpeas & used just a portion of the dressing – and it was delicious! My husband and I both loved it and we look forward to making it throughout spring and summer using different fruits like blueberries and raspberries as a few others here have mentioned. Such a great light meal! Thanks for sharing this.
I love Kale salads, and this salad was perfect for our Feature Friday today for “20 Delectable Salads” Thanks again for letting us feature it! Here is the link, I hope you can stop by! http://returntothetable.net/recipes/20-delectable-salads/
I made this salad this week for my family and they loved it! I did some variations, since 2 people don’t like avocado, I left it off their salads. Couldn’t get pomegranate arils, so the next best thing was buying ALMOND ACCENTS, Sweet Roasted with Pomegranate arils. Deleted the pecans since I used almonds. The dressing was light and not over-powering. It was delightful!! Will have this again!
can you post calories on your recipes…they are great!
Lisa, unfortunately, as I am not a registered dietician, I am not comfortable sharing nutritional information of my recipes. Please use online resources to obtain such information.
Do you guys think I could sub honey for agave?
Yes, absolutely.
Made this for dinner last night. It was the BEST salad I have had in a LONG time! Even my husband who says dinner isn’t dinner unless there is meat on his plate and that kale should only ever be a garnish loved it, loved it so much he ate seconds! Thanks! 🙂
I love how you use Kale in this – we use it with Citrus fruits, Gorgonzola and Walnuts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ey5usZmw5Y
I made this tonight and it was amazing….I did let the kale soak overnight in the vingarette and it was fantastic…thanks for the great recipe
Great recipes! I used to live in SF. Now Chicago.
Are the pomagranite seeds dried or fresh and where does one find them?
David, I used fresh pomegranate. You can find this at your local grocery store when they are in season.
I made this salad tonight for dinner, it tastes GREAT! !! I will probably make it 2 to 3 times a month. Thank You so oolong much!!!
All I can say is … “Wow, that was damn delicious!” I have been juicing kale for a while but this was my first kale salad. I’ll be making this again.
Thanks!!
This looks incredible!! I will be trying it tonight 🙂 Hopefully you can check out my blog too! Do you currently live in Chicago?? I’m craving Lawry’s now, haha.
We actually reside in San Francisco but I’d love to visit Chicago one day!