Apps, Comida Latina, Dairy Free, Recipes, Salads, Side Dishes

Kale, Cara Cara Orange, and Smoked Almond Salad

April 11, 2014

I’m leaving you this weekend with a salad I made one midday when I had nothing but a boatload of vegetables in the refrigerator. I ended up loving the combination so much I now intentionally buy these ingredients so I can eat this salad at least once a week.

Cara cara oranges are becoming hard to come by, but if you can still find them I urge you to make this salad before you have to wait another year for them to return. This salad is sweet, smoky, chewy and incredibly satisfying.

And because I know with Passover and Easter coming up some major menu planning is going down this weekend and I wanted all of you to make this salad for your holiday meals. It is a solid main course salad but also would make a kick-ass side for ham, brisket, or whatever else you’ve got going on. Not to mention if you’ve been tasked to bring a salad to the meal, you won’t find one that is easier to transport. Just bring the dressing (can you call two ingredients mixed together a dressing? I say, Yes!) in a separate container and drizzle it over the salad right before you eat.

If you don’t have all these ingredients on hand you can leave some of them out or substitute what you do have. Although I haven’t tried it, I’m pretty sure thinly sliced fennel, shaved asparagus, or some thinly sliced red onion would be good here too. The smoked almonds really add something special to this combination. I picked up a bag the last time I was at Trader Joe’s, but you can also find the Blue Diamond brand at most grocery stores.

Hope you all have excellent weekends. Happy Planning! xo

Kale, Cara Cara Orange, and Smoked Almond Salad

Author: Kate Ramos
Yield: 4 1x

Scale

Ingredients

3 cups torn kale
2 scallions, thinly sliced
2 radishes, ends removed and thinly sliced
1 cup mixed greens
1 cara cara orange, segmented and segments cut in half horizontally
1 carrot, peeled into thin strips
1/4 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped smoked almonds
1/4 cup canned garbanzo beans
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper

Instructions

Combine kale, scallions, radishes, mixed greens, oranges, carrots, and bell pepper strips in a large salad bowl.
Sprinkle almonds and garbanzo beans over the top.
Mix balsamic and olive oil together and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle dressing over salad and serve.