Okay before you say “ohh that sounds horrible,” hear me out.
This is my new favorite salad. When the grill is already hot and the meat has
been pulled off and is resting, you can prepare this salad in a matter of
minutes and it is wonderful. I based it on a recipe from Bon Appetit http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/quick-recipes/2012/07/grilled-kale-salad-with-ricotta-and-plums
that caught my eye. The only extra touch I added for this salad is I made fresh
ricotta.
If you have never had fresh ricotta before, it is a totally different
beast from the container you buy next to the sour cream once a year when you
make lasagna. It tastes like…it has the texture of… Hmm, it’s tiny white clumps.
You actually make it by adding lemon juice to whole milk and then you have
ricotta. It is that easy. You scoop out the little white bits that normally
would scare you if you peered into a container of milk. You would hand the
container to your spouse and say “taste this and let me know if it’s okay.” And
they would give you that “I wasn’t born yesterday” look and you would toss it.
But in this instance it is okay. You want these little white grains of dairy
lusciousness. You scoop them out and put
them in some paper towels to drain in a strainer and you are done. Fresh
Ricotta. You could go ahead and layer it between noodles and make some lasagna
but it’s worth so much more than that.
I first tasted fresh ricotta at Zuni Café in San Francisco.
My husband is a gnocchi lover; if it is on the menu he always goes for it. At Zuni
their gnocchi, normally made with flour in our experience, is made from
ricotta. A few tablespoon sized pillows comes floating to your table. The
waitress has to keep the dish from floating away they are so light. They come
sauced with just butter and sage. Kill me now. I know what heaven tastes like.
Which of course led me to search out fresh ricotta at
Cowgirl Creamery in the Ferry Building in SF and make my own ricotta gnocchi. Became
my latest new best thing for awhile and introduced me to fresh ricotta.
I moved away. No longer easy access to fresh ricotta, but
when I saw this recipe I knew it would not be the same without it. Don’t do it
with store bought tubs. By it fresh, make it fresh or just don’t do it.
But I digress. Back to the salad. Cut some plums into
slices, working around the pit. They usually don’t come out nice like a peach.
Throw them in a bowl. Spray some really dry, curly kale with canola oil or
olive oil or rub it all over with oil, but it is easier with spray. Sprinkle it
with salt, put it on the grill and watch it. As soon as the leaves start to
blacken on the edge flip it over. Cook another minute, pull it off, throw it in
a bowl and continue until all the leaves are cooked. Make a dressing of olive
oil and balsamic with a drizzle of honey. BA has you add fresh thyme but not
using it is not a deal killer. Grab the cooked kale and cut out the big rib in
the middle. I just used my hands and pulled the leaves off the rib. Grilling
them makes them crispy and softer at the same time. Kale can be tough but just
these few minutes of heat on the grill softens the leaves and crisps the edges
like a kale chip. Toss the plums and kale with the dressing. Pile on a plate,
taking some of the plums that sunk to the bottom of the bowl and arrange on top
of the greens. Add a little dollop of ricotta, a few grinds of pepper and some
kosher salt. That is it. You are done.
You have the perfect summer salad. The juicy plums and the
slightly sweet dressing pair with the crispy yet tender kale. The creamy
ricotta pulls it all together and you have a moment of awakening. You find out
you like kale. You find out making ricotta is easier than you think. Your teenage
daughter could make it with little instruction (thanks Grace). You haven’t
spent hours chopping and dicing. And you have the perfect summer salad. Takes
no time but wows the taste buds and surprises your dinner guests!
If you need more instruction than I just gave you click here
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/quick-recipes/2012/07/grilled-kale-salad-with-ricotta-and-plums
And I found these instructions helpful and took a little of
the fear out of making ricotta. But skip the first part and jump to the recipe
at the bottom. All that trial and error and science can scare you. http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/02/how-to-make-fresh-ricotta-fast-easy-homemade-cheese-the-food-lab-recipe.html
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