Here's the thing: this is the best kale salad you'll ever have. I can say that because I (mostly) borrowed it from someone else. There's a little cafe on an alleyway in San Francisco called Darwin. Every weekday at noon you'll find a line of hungry people winding down the sidewalk, quietly waiting their turn to order a roast beef sandwich on freshly baked bread or, most relevantly, a heaping kale salad. This salad was a revelation to me. It was not at all like the fibrous, grassy encounters with kale I'd had in the past. It was fresh, light, savory, salty. It was perfect, and it ate it twice a week for lunch between the years of 2011 and 2014.
At one point, I was so obsessed with this salad that I pitched the idea of spotlighting Darwin for my company's blog so I could interview the chef for the story. With my intrepid reporter's hat and a healthy hunger in hand, I managed to get the recipe from Darwin Dave himself. Over the years, I've tweaked it here and there to make it my own: sometimes I include the radicchio and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I use bacon, other times I pick up some pancetta. But I always, always use lacinato kale and go heavy on the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Because sometimes simplest is best.
Ingredients
1 bunch lacinato kale
1/4 head radicchio
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 Tbsp balsamic glaze
1 clove garlic
3 pieces of thick-cut bacon
flaky salt, like Maldon
fresh-cracked black pepper
Parmigiano-Reggiano
Directions
De-stem the kale by holding onto the stem with one hand and stripping off the leafy part with the other. Chop it into 1" ribbons, then wash and dry it well. Chop the radicchio in 1" pieces and combine with the kale in a large mixing bowl.
Chop the bacon into 1/2" pieces and cook until crisp. Drain atop a paper towel.
Add the olive oil, lemon juice (use half a lemon if it’s large, the whole lemon if it’s small), garlic and balsamic glaze. Using your hands, really get in there and mix it all up, massaging the kale as you go. You'll know you're done mixing when every piece of kale is well coated.
Add a generous pinch of flaky salt and a bunch of fresh-cracked pepper. Taste the kale to see if it needs more of anything. I often add a bit more lemon or another drizzle of balsamic until the balance is just right.
Transfer to your serving bowl (unless you’re like me and you just plan on eating out of the mixing bowl) and top with the bits of bacon and lots of microplaned parmesan—and I do mean lots. Grate the cheese until you can barely see the top of the salad, and then grate a little bit more.
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