Kale Persimmon Salad
Kale Persimmon Salad is a holiday-ready persimmon salad with hearty kale, pomegranate, walnuts, and cranberries. Serve it with a poppy seed dressing for a delicious kale salad that is festive for a gathering but simple enough for a weeknight meal!
Kale Persimmon Salad is a holiday-ready persimmon salad with hearty kale, pomegranate, walnuts, and cranberries. Serve it with a poppy seed dressing for a delicious kale salad that is festive for a gathering but simple enough for a weeknight meal!
They say that with age comes wisdom, and when I entered the holiday season this year, I felt a little more clarity in my home life. Every year I tell myself that I need to be fully present to enjoy the holiday season with my family. Still, I’ve always found myself swept away in the busyness of business – something hard to both avoid and resist when you do this kind of work.
But this was the year that the reality of life set in, where I realized that I may not be able to expect holidays always to look a certain way, or at least the way I am used to, as my kids get older with each passing year, and start to become their persons. That realization was sobering and, frankly, the big kick in the butt needed to set some boundaries with work and home.
I find these boundaries involve saying no to projects, but it also means making minor changes, such as how I approach food and cooking. I’m all about saving time and using it to my advantage, even when cooking daily meals.
For me, nurturing my family and making this kale salad are oddly similar. Massaging the kale coaxes its leaves to be more palatable, softening its toughness, and giving it the gift of time to rest makes it taste even better. It’s about tossing the sweetness of life in the form of fresh persimmons from my friend’s tree with the tanginess we encounter in a citrus poppy seed dressing, not to mention a melange of textures that make life, and this salad, all the more interesting.
Maybe I’m looking into it too much, maybe I’m just getting sappy, or maybe I should just say it’s a delicious salad. We need good things in life, and time to enjoy it, so I’ll leave it at that.
Persimmon Salad
I’ve am blessed with the good fortune of living around the block from my friend, Amy, whose Fuyu persimmon tree decided to show off this year, with perhaps the most fruitful harvest of persimmon I have ever seen. Her little tree just wouldn’t stop! So after we had our fill of Persimmon Apple Crumb Pie, we needed to balance things out. A persimmon salad was just the thing.
The secret to a delicious kale salad is to pamper the greens with a massage in a little olive and kosher salt. This, paired with a little resting time, tenderizes the kale, making it easier to digest.
As for the mix-ins, it’s all about the best ingredients of autumn and winter. Pomegranate arils and glazed walnuts add crunch, feta cheese adds saltiness, and a simply citrusy poppy seed dressing brings it all together. But it’s the Fuyu persimmons that are the star.
Fuyu persimmons should be ripe but not too soft. Keep in mind that Hachiya persimmons are quite different from fuyu; definitely stick with fuyu persimmons in this recipe, which can be eaten while firm.
Ingredients for Kale Persimmon Salad 
Massaging kale tenderizes the leaves and makes it easier to digest.
But the best part of this salad is that you can prep it all in advance, even dress it, and it will keep nicely overnight. So whether you are prepping for the week or trying to get a head start on holiday entertaining, this salad will keep things more sane.
More Kale Salad Recipes
Mandarin Orange Kale Salad
Roasted Acorn Squash and Kale Salad
Blackberry and Blueberry Kale Salad with Aged Havarti
Cranberry Walnut Kale Salad with Fresh Cranberry Vinaigrette
Pan-Seared Scallops with Warm Asparagus, Kale and Tangerine Salad
More Persimmon Recipes
Persimmon Crumb Pie
Avocado Toast with Persimmon, Pomegranate, and Fennel from Floating Kitchen
Roasted Persimmon Butter from Cafe Johnsonia
Persimmon Bread from Proportional Plate
Persimmon Cookies from Two Peas and Their Pod
Kale Persimmon Salad
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Kosher salt
- 1 lb curly kale de-stemmed and chopped (about 6 cups)
- 2 cups chopped Fuyu persimmon
- 1/2 cup pomegranate arils
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta
- 1/2 cup glazed walnuts
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- Freshly ground black pepper
For the Dressing
- 1/3 cup minced shallot about 1 medium shallot
- 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 2 teaspoons poppy seeds
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup olive oil
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the kale and olive oil, and season generously with kosher salt. With clean hand, massage the kale for about 3 minutes to tenderize the leaves. Add the persimmon, pomegranate arils, feta, walnuts, and cranberries. Season with black pepper. Mix to combine and let it sit while you make the dressing.
- Combine the shallot, vinegar, orange juice, poppy seeds, honey, mustard, and olive oil in a jar and seal it tightly. Shake the jar until the dressing is fully emulsified.
- Drizzle the dressing over the salad, toss, and adjust seasoning to taste with salt and pepper, if necessary. Serve immediately. Or, if you wish, let the salad sit overnight and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Nutrition
Comments
COOKBOOK
nice set of ingredients, haven’t ever put these all together in a salad, I like them! Love the texture of the walnuts, pomegranate arils and cranberries, as well as the persimmon, and then the feta, hits just about all of the flavor profiles, thank you!