Clyde Commons’s Kale and Pesto Salad

Yesterday a friend and I decided to be ladies who lunch. We went out for a midday meal at Clyde Common, a Portland spot I’d heard a lot about, and we weren’t disappointed. We split a Tuscan kale salad with pesto on it and a burger. Yum! I hadn’t planned to recreate the salad–if I had I would have taken a picture of the original–but when I went to the grocery store last night the kale was just calling to me. It’s packed with nutrients and vitamins but so far none of the recipes I’d tried had been tasty enough to repeat. (I tend to like raw veggies more than cooked ones, and raw kale can be a bit tough.) But the salad (both in the restaurant and at home) was awesome. Here’s how I recreated it:

1. Pull the tough stems off a bunch of Tuscan or lacinato kale then slice the leaves into thin strips.

2. Massage kale with a bit of lemon juice. By crunching it around with your hands in the citrus juice you will really soften it up.

3. Scoop on a dab or two of pre-made pesto then mix/massage it on the kale. (I bought mine at Whole Foods–I only used a quarter of the package.)

4. Plate the kale, sprinkling with pine nuts and a bit of cheese. (I had ricotta salata in the fridge.)

5. Top it off with a segment of grapefruit, which adds a bit of sweetness and tartness. Delish!

I paired this with a baked ziti-like dish I made really quick. A few weeks ago I roasted too many veggies–peppers, onions, eggplant, tomatoes, etc.–so I threw the extras in a pasta sauce and froze it. Today I thawed the sauce then put it in a baking dish with some cooked orechiette and a bit of mozzarella and ricotta salata. It baked for 55 minutes and just like that, lunch was served. I really like cheese and carbs but there were so many veggies in this lunch that I feel totally guilt-free, even though I had pasta!