Baby Kale Salad can be satisfying lunch or side

My friends and I enjoy walking over to Colony Square and hanging out in the (5Church) rooftop lounge, then moving downstairs for dinner. Hands down, our favorite light item on the menu is the baby kale salad. The lounge may be called “Virtue,” but we feel virtuous when we eat this salad with its quinoa, kale and blueberries. Will they share the recipe for that vinaigrette? Patricia Hamel, Atlanta

5Church culinary director Rodney Smith was happy to share the recipe and suggests if you’re making it at home, you could serve this salad as a satisfying lunch or side dish.

The restaurant sources its kale-lettuce mix from Alo Farms in Peachtree City. You can serve the same greens by ordering for pickup on the farm, delivery through Market Wagon or purchasing at the Candler Park Market,

Grant Park Market and Nourish & Bloom Market in Fayetteville, among other locations. Their pecans are sourced from Front Porch Pecans, available through Amazon. They sell maple pecans, which would work in this recipe, or you can find other brands at your grocery store.

Smith incorporates the step of rinsing the quinoa before cooking to remove any bitterness from the grain caused by naturally occurring saponins. “And don’t forget the resting time after cooking. That’s what lets the quinoa grains release what looks like a little curly tail, and the quinoa becomes nice and fluffy.”

Is there a recipe from a metro Atlanta restaurant you’d like to make at home? Tell us and we’ll try to get it. We’ll also test it and adapt it for the home kitchen. Because of volume, we can’t answer all inquiries. Send your request, your address and phone number to fromthemenu@gmail.com and put “From the menu of ” and the name of the restaurant in the subject line.