Parmesan Kale Salad with Raisins
I’ve raved about the kale salad at Kayne Prime and Tavern for months. I’ve sent vegetarians to Kayne Prime (a steakhouse!) so they could eat it. After having the baby a few months ago, I requested that salad be brought to me as takeout. I’ve recommended it to at least fifty strangers. You could say that I am a little bit obsessed with it!
So when I got kale in my CSA share several weeks ago, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind what I’d be doing with it – I was going to conquer that salad at home.
As I’ve mentioned, these days it’s a little difficult to find extra time to play around in the kitchen, so it ended up taking way longer than it should have to pull it together from start to finish.
Day 1: Pick up CSA share.
Day 2: Wash, de-stem, and tear up the kale into pieces. Store in OXO Salad Spinner in fridge.
Day 3 thru Day ??: Kale sits in the fridge until more hands arrive on the scene.
That set of hands belonged to my sister-in-law who came to Nashville from New York for a visit. I knew she would be up for the challenge of re-creating this salad because she enjoys experimenting in the kitchen as much as I do. With just a few verbal instructions from me, she got to work.
And let me tell you — while it’s a little different than the restaurant versions, it is still fan-freakin’-tastic! How’s it different? Kayne Prime’s version has currants and pine nuts. Tavern’s version has currants and slivered almonds. My version has regular raisins, golden raisins, and this time, toasted walnuts (only because that’s what I happened to have on hand). Oh, and we threw in some lemon zest because…. well, why not?
People – I love this salad. Like, LLLLLOOOOOVVVVVVEEEE. Capital L. Capital O. Capital V. Capital E.
I couldn’t keep my paws out of it before dinner was served that night. (or even after the meal for that matter)
Last weekend there was once again a big bunch of kale in my CSA basket, so I’m sure you can guess what I did…. Yep, the salad made a repeat appearance. This time we had a couple of friends over for dinner, and before they left the house, I think they told me at least 10 times how excited they were to make it themselves! Back home in New York, my sister-in-law has also already made it again too. My fellow food blogging friend Lesley just shared a version of it last week on her blog.
So see, I’m not the only one that loves it! I might be the one the one that’s the most obsessed with it, but that’s okay. I can live with that.
Parmesan Kale Salad with Raisins
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
1 large bunch of kale, washed, de-stemmed and torn into pieces
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup golden raisins
juice of 1 freshly squeezed lemon (2-3 Tbsp)
1/2 – 1 tsp lemon zest (from lemon above)
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup chopped, toasted nuts (almonds, pine nuts, walnuts, pecans, any kind could work!)
Salt to taste
Directions:
Take torn kale pieces and in batches, pulse in food processor until finely chopped*. Place chopped kale into medium bowl. Add raisins, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Toss together.
Stir in parmesan and olive oil, evenly coating all kale. Add in nuts and toss. Salt to taste before serving.
*It took 3 batches in the food processor for me to get it all chopped. You should have approximately 4 cups of finely chopped kale when finished.
I cant wait to try this! I love love love kale and I am always looking for new ways to use it.
can’t wait to hear what you think! I am seriously, ridiculously in love with it.
i’m also obsessed with this salad. i made my own version last week, and every time i opened the fridge i’d have a fork in hand so i could sneak a bite.
did you do anything drastically different to your version? I love the pine nuts in the Kayne Prime version, but I don’t keep pine nuts on hand (but I always have walnuts). My husband thinks he’d like it a little more lemony, so I might add extra juice the next time I make it.
What I can’t believe is that you just now posted this recipe! After my last visit to Tavern (when I finally tried it), I searched your blog for it and was surprised I didn’t find it. That’s when Morgan chimed in with her recipe. :)
I think a big part of why this salad is so good is that the kale is finely chopped. People have mentioned that massaging kale makes it more mild and I think the extra fine chopping accomplishes the same thing.
I know. I am just so slow with EVERYTHING these days!
I love kale right now, this salad looks amazing!!
It IS Kelley! I must make it. Soooooo good :-)
You and Lesley and the kale! This winter, in my winter CSA, I got grocery sacks full of Kale every week. I will need to remember this recipe!
Haha, I know, where were we when everyone had kale coming out their ears? ;-)
Well, better late than never, right?
I wonder if I could use the kale pulp from my juicer?
Thanks for sharing this recipe!!
I am making this right now!!!!
Funny, I just read another blog in which the blogger made Kale Chips. I’ll have to buy enough Kale to do both recipes. Yours sounds irresistible.
Keep writing…
I’m about to blog a kale salad too! I’ve never tried the Tavern or Kayne Prime version, this does sound really good!
I too am obsessed with the Tuscan Kale Salad at Tavern. I’ve recreated it at home quite a few times and would highly recommend using Lacinato Kale rather than the standard green curly kale. Tavern uses Marcona almonds and currants, but I rarely have those on hand so I like your use of the raisins and pine nuts.
I’m going to try food processing it as you mentioned, sounds like it will be a much better texture than the knife-chopped version.
Thanks!
Yay! Thanks, Beth! I keep meaning to recreate this at home, but have never had an actual recipe to follow. I can’t wait to try this!
Wow! I’ve never had raw kale, but we have a TON of kale in our garden right now and this looks like more fun (and tastier) than freezing it all! Thank you!
Just tried it. LOVE it! Thank you!
I just made this today and it’s great. Thanks, I love kale salads.
Love Love Love this salad, will be one of my staples from now on. Thanks for the post!
So delicious! Made it tonight…yum!
Joey made this up last night for his lunch today. He loved it. He did make a few changes based on what we had on hand.
Lime juice and zest instead of the lemon
Craisins instead of raisins
Toasted almonds
His exact words “I could live off that kale salad. Some of that, a piece of fish, glass of white wine. Perfect dinner.”
Tell Joey that I feel the same way! The last couple of times I’ve gone to Kayne Prime, that is exactly what I’ve gotten – fish and the kale salad, both split with a friend + wine… but more than one glass ;-)
This looks amazing!!!!! I can’t wait to try it!!!!! thanks for the share!!
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I made this last weekend. I wasn’t expecting to like it since I am not sure how I feel about kale. It was wonderful – I served it to a few of my friends and they enjoyed it. It has such an interesting blend of flavors. Thanks for a great, healthy recipe.
Meant to say I’m in love with this recipe! I’ve made it a few times now and even took it to work for a team lunch. Everyone loved it.
This sounds delicious! I also LOVE kale – thanks for sharing!
Thank you for this recipe! Im a vegitarian and ive been struggling to find suitable new dishes, I will give this one a go. x
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Sound great! love kale in any recipe! I am a Gluten free vegan, so I am trying to come up with a parm cheese alternative. Found a recipe for almond feta cheese , will make the cheese and see if it will work in the salad. Found black or Russian kale at Whole Foods Market last week, and did a sauté with the kale it was awesome. Thanks for your e-mails!
I combined this recipe with the Rumours East recipe and it was amazing! I cut the amount of raisins in half, and added 1/2 cup of pomegranate seeds and 1/4 c red onion (minced)- spectacular! Thanks so much…
Oh my, that sounds wonderful! I love pomegranate, so I’ll have to try that!
I just made this salad. WOW! I mean, i read the comments and everything and it sounded good, but WOW! I never get that excited about salads, but this one is incredible. Thank you so much for sharing. I wish I had made more! I will next time!
I am so happy to hear that! I seriously LOOOVVVEEE it!
i make this salad ALL the time now. for any guest, for any occasion. it’s my go-to impressive side dish and it kills everytime.
So happy to hear that Abby! Isn’t it great that even people who think they don’t like kale end up loving it?!
You were not kidding, this is fanfreakintastic! I didn’t have some ingredients for a similar but cooked kale dish, but was craving kale tonight, and I found your blog. I had these ingredients (except substituted lime for lemon, like another reader suggested), so I made it right away. This is PERFECT for summer — no heating the kitchen! Love this, and it will definitely be a staple from now on. Thanks!
Well I have ordered this salad over 30 times this year at Tavern and Kayne-
and I am stoked you posted this! I too LOOOOOVE this salad. Remind your fans to try a salmon filet on top ;)
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Like everyone else, I’m crazy about this salad, but I just keyed in the ingredients into myfitnesspal.com to figure out the nutritional counts and if you eat this as “one entree salad”, the nutritional info would just about blow my diet for the day: 1103g Calories/ 96g Carbs/ 68g Fat/ 42g Protein/ 921g Sodium/ 60g Sugar!
Hi Melanie,
I certainly have never eaten this as one entree salad, and I can’t imagine that anyone would sit down and eat this whole thing – it makes a lot! It’s definitely meant to be shared :-)
Thank you for this recipe! I was searching for a salad recipe for the kale pulp left over from my juicer. I ran out of fresh lemon so I used some lemon pepper. I added dried cranberries and pine nuts to your recipe and it turned out great. Can’t wait to try it with real lemon though ;)
I have a recipe that is the same as this kale salad except it uses chopped dates. I love it but don’t have dates on hand so I will have to try it with raisins.
I hate raisins added on any food dish yet when I tried your recipe, it’s simple delicious! Can’t wait to make one for my family!
This looks good! and there are a lot of great reviews. I definitely try this one out.
Love making this salad!! My friend worked at Kayne and gave me the recipe. It’s out of this world delicious. You think it would work with spinach?
Wow! This is a very delicious recipe of yours. i can’t wait to try this recipe. i hope you’ll be doing more recipes so that we can learn new stuff to enjoy in this quarantine.
Hey there, just saw this. I used to work at Kayne Prime and made this everyday. We blitzed the kale in a food processor just until it was finely chopped. Used black currants instead of raisins and Marcona almonds as the nuts. Freshly/finely grate wheel of Parmesan. Make the vinegarette with the lemon juice/olive oil before adding. Then just throw it all together and toss. Add salt to taste after, like you said. Always loved this salad too.
This dish looks good. Can’t wait to try it out.