Autumn salad earthy and bitter, funky and sweet
We tend to think of salads as spring and summer affairs, but fall is when salad greens really start to shine. Gardeners know this well. Many lettuces and dark leafy greens, including spinach, watercress, arugula, kale, romaine, bok choy and radicchio, thrive in cooler months. The chill in the air helps tame their bitterness, so the astringency of arugula turns into a bewitching pepperiness, and the harshness of kale is offset by a verdant vegetal tang.
Spring and summer have their merits, but come fall, there’s lots to choose from when building a leafy salad.
“Whether it is a single variety of leaf lightly dressed, or a more complex arrangement of leaves that flatter one another, the making of a salad is where kitchen craft crosses over into art,” Nigel Slater wrote in “Tender,” his loving treatise on vegetables. “More than baking bread or making a cake, rolling pastry or basting the roast, I am at my happiest in the kitchen when I am putting a salad together.”
Let’s follow Slater’s lead, then, with a deeply flavored kale salad inspired by the season.
Thick slices of bread get roasted alongside mushrooms and roughly chopped red onion until the bread turns golden and the vegetables are meaty and caramelized. While that’s going, massage the kale with a little salt. This will tenderize the leaves and allow them to absorb the sweet-and-tangy dressing.
Apple cider, apple cider vinegar, whole-grain mustard and olive oil are shaken in a jar for the simple dressing. Once the bread is evenly toasted, it gets ripped apart for rough croutons. These will soak up the dressing, mushroom juices and sweetness from the pear slices for a panzanella effect. Blue cheese keeps things squarely on the savory side. The combination hits on a lot of flavors I love in the fall: earthy and bitter, funky and sweet.
Variations: Replace the mushrooms with roasted squash, sweet potato or eggplant. Swap any leafy green or even cabbage for the kale. Use a sharp cheddar, a goat’s milk cheese or feta instead of blue cheese.
Kale Salad With Roasted Mushrooms, Pears, Torn Croutons and Blue Cheese
3 or 4 slices of crusty bread, each
about the size of your hand 6 tablespoons olive oil, divided use 6 to 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, such as button, portobello, porcini or hedgehog, sliced
1small red onion, roughly chopped
(optional)
½ teaspoon fine sea salt or table
salt, divided use
Ground black pepper, to taste
4 to 6 ounces kale, preferably curly, thick stems and ribs removed and chopped
3 tablespoons apple cider or juice 2 teaspoons mustard, preferably
whole-grain
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar 1 large pear or apple (any kind),
sliced
3 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 400 degrees. Using a pastry or basting brush, very lightly brush the bread with some of the olive oil and lay the slices on one side of a large, rimmed baking sheet. On the other side of the baking sheet, toss together 2 tablespoons of olive oil with the mushrooms and onions, if using. Spread the vegetables in an even layer and season with ¼ teaspoon of salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Roast for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the bread is toasted and the vegetables are soft and beginning to caramelize.
Meanwhile, in a large serving bowl, combine the chopped kale and a pinch of salt. Using your hands, massage the kale for a few minutes or until it’s slightly wilted.
In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, shake together the cider, mustard, vinegar and remaining oil. Taste, and season with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper, if desired.
When the vegetables and bread are done, remove them from the oven and set aside until the bread is cool enough to handle. Using your hands, tear each piece into rough croutons and add them to the kale along with the mushrooms, onions, and pear or apple. Drizzle most of the dressing over everything and toss to coat. Sprinkle the blue cheese over the top, and serve family-style, with additional dressing on the side.
Makes 2 (main dish) or 4 (side dish) servings.