2 Recipes Eating Clean And Special Walnuts For Fiesta Friday #33
Fiesta Friday
Eating clean, I’ve heard the term but never really grasped what it means, it’s quite simple really, read about it here in an article on Cooking Light, in a nutshell you eat unprocessed whole foods, nothing new really we should all eat like that, the term is new but not the concept. I receive emails from Martha Stewart living and really love some of the recipes from her site, I always have admired Martha’s business acumen and respect how she has built her empire and she also has some amazing recipes. This particular email had recipes that focus on eating clean, the recipes are always simple and are prepared on video by Shira Bocar. The salad contains Tuscan Kale (use tuscan its more tender when eaten raw), apples, beets and walnuts with a dressing made from avocado, white wine vinegar, dijon mustard and oil. I don’t have a mandolin which is what you are supposed to use to cut the beets paper thin, so as a result my beets were a bit too thick and raw beets really need to be thin, next time I will roast my beets for a little while and then slice,or get over my mandolin phobia and get one of those.
In the same email there was a recipe (I guess you can call it that) for broiling broccoli rabe and chick peas. This was a revelation for me, I always steamed it and the florets become overcooked while the stems are still hard and stringy, I wanted to give this a try, the key is for the broccoli rabe and chickpeas to be dry so plan in advance and let your vegetables and chickpeas drain and dry completely. I must say I love Martha’s clean eating video’s here is the one with the broccoli rabe. Shira serves with some fresh ricotta drizzled with olive oil and a sprinkling of red pepper flakes.
The walnuts in the salad were a gift from Patty Nguyen, I love her blog, she is a photographer and a great cook, she also has the most adorable little dog. She came to NYC to visit her brother and we met at the Brooklyn Flea, These walnuts (Chandler walnuts) were hand cracked and are amazing, fresh and delicious. I told Patty I would use them in a recipe and post it, so Patty, here it is. Thank you for the delicious walnuts and I so enjoyed meeting you.
Chandler walnuts
I am bringing both of these healthful vegetable dishes to the party, Angie@The Novice Gardener is hosting this gathering of friends and great cooks, imagine the line up with so many great and talented cooks preparing the food, The co hosts this week are Andrea @Cooking with a Wallflower and Sylvia @Superfoodista enjoy the clean food my dear friends.
Creamy kale salad
Creamy Kale Salad
Ingredients
1 ripe avocado, halved, seed removed
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar (You could also use lemon juice) I added an extra tbs of vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons walnut oil or extra-virgin olive oil (I used walnut oil)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 bunch kale (8 oz.), stemmed and coarsely chopped
1 small red beet, peeled and thinly sliced (I used a golden beet also)
1 sweet, crisp apple, cored and cut into thin wedges
1/2 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
Directions
Combine avocado, vinegar, mustard, and oil in a food processor. Pulse until smooth. (It will be thick.) Season with salt and pepper.
Combine kale, beets, apple, and walnuts in a large bowl. Toss with avocado dressing. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately. Suggestion: Add Farro, freekeh or some whole grain to the salad, it will be filling and delicious.
salad
ready for the broiler
Broccoli Rabe and chickpeas
1 bunch broccoli rabe cleaned and trimmed (Be sure to keep the leaves, they crisp beautifully in the broiler)
1 can chick peas drained and dried
6 tbs olive oil (If you use 2 small sheet pans 3 tbs per tray)
thinly sliced garlic 2 cloves
salt
Really important to make sure your broccoli rabe and chick peas are dry, moisture is the enemy for this dish Place dry broccoli rabe on sheet pan, don’t over crowd. Add the chickpeas and garlic. Spoon or drizzle oil and massage into the broccoli rabe and chick peas, sprinkle with salt and place in heated broiler for 2 minutes, take out of the oven and turn the broccoli and place back in the oven for another 2 minutes. Remove from oven and serve.NOTE: I washed and dried my broccoli rabe and chickpeas the day before I made the dish, just bagged and refrigerated and they were perfectly dry. I think it depend on your oven how long you leave in to broil. I found that after the prescribed 4 minutes in the broiler the broccoli rabe was still quite raw a bit too crunchy, it is probably my oven, I’m sure in the Martha Stewart test kitchen they have commercial grade ovens that have more BTU’s than mine. So I put it in an extra 6 minutes. It was done perfectly, a little toothsome but still tender. So the cooking time will vary.
ready to eat
apuginthekitchen 
Suzanne, this is really interesting and informative. I’d love to try the Creamy Kale Salad! Hugs!
Thanks Teagan, I need to start incorporating some of this clean eating into my daily routine.
Your salads both look so delicious (and healthy!). I’m particularly drawn to the second one because broccolli rabe (or stems as we call them) are one of my absolutely all-time favourite vegetables, but I’ve never been able to source them in France. I always come back from visits to London with my suitcases filled to the brim (which customs must find pretty funny). I bet it goes beautifully with chickpeas… Looks divine – I’m so envious 🙂
The broccoli rabe and chickpeas are beautiful together and when eaten as suggested in the video with some fresh ricotta drizzled with some good olive oil and some pepper flakes, it’s amazing. My Mom cannot get broccoli rabe where she lives and its in the USA, she has to travel an hour to get get and brings back tons of it when she goes for it. Thanks so much.
Your salad looks delicious, Suzanne! Love the addition of the “Patty” walnuts, too. 🙂
Patty’s walnuts were amazing, thanks so much Nancy.
Inspiring post, my healthy cooking friend!
Thanks Liz, its good for you and tastes good too!!
Perfect salad for fall. Party sounds great.
Thanks Michelle, I need to start doing this type of food a lot more frequently.
Beautiful salads, Suzanne, love your posting. In case you have never seen it, here is a link to Clean Eating magazine that I like:
http://www.cleaneatingmag.com/about/
Thanks Linda, I will see if I can get it on my ipad, need to learn more and get more recipes.
With the walnut crunch I am sure salad is such a comfort food:-) refreshing
I love salads with nuts and seeds and fruit. Thank you so much,
I eat kale salads all the time – they just make me feel so good. And love the additions of fruit (apples are perfect), pepitas (since I’m allergic to nuts), and a light dressing. Next time, I want to try your dressing. It looks wonderful! And what a great way to make rabe. I’ve never broiled it, but roast broccolini all the time. I’m definitely trying broiling some rabe now! It’s so, so healthy. Great post, Suzanne!!
The dressing is great but I felt it need more acid, I used vinegar but would love it with lemon or lime. I love kale, and raw kale salads I actually would love with pepitas. Thanks Susan.
How weird, only 2 minutes per side? Not even catering grills would be that powerful. Have to admit, I like the idea of grilling broccoli as it can takes ages to pan-fry sometimes. Although the florets would have to be sliced to be the same thickness. Anyway, still haven’t managed to try your cooking method for aubergine. Made orzotto instead. And couldn’t eat it as my teeth are playing up – again. Ouch, should’ve tried the aubergine!
It took longer than 4 minutes, I added an additional 6 minutes, still far less than steaming or boiling and much more healthful. So sorry to hear you are having tooth problems, saw a post from you the other day about brownies and then it disappeared, I was happy for a minute, Miss you!
Aww! Oh, and apologies for that post. I completely forgot I was still using the old blog! I’m building this: http://kitschnflavours.wordpress.com/ if you want to have a look. The structure is sort of there, but it’s missing a lot of text. It’s not going to be a proper blog with recipes, though.
Oh I love your new site and wish I lived in the UK, I would be placing an order pronto. Looks wonderful and congratulations.
What lovely salads, I have been on such a salad kick lately! Clean eating is awesome, but I can’t say I beyond love walnuts – trying pecans maybe? 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Uru, use any nut you would like. It would be great, I think pepitas would be delicious instead of nuts also.
Both dishes look delicious… and so healthy too! I really like the idea of the creamy avocado dressing for the kale salad.
The dressing is delicious, it’s so creamy and simple so few ingredients. Love food like that. Thank you so much,
Love this Suzanne! And so fun that you and Patty met! So special!
Thanks Lori, loved meeting Patty, she is so talented and very very sweet.
Very innovative. Looks great! 🙂
Thanks so much, the broiler method of cooking the broccoli rabe is terrific.
Lovely and healthy salads Suzanne – I hope to be eating lots of these kinds of dishes in the coming months! Hope you’re well… and how lovely that you and Patty were able to meet up in NY! 🙂
I wish I would eat like this all the time but unfortunately my love of sweets gets the better of me, also my great love of all things bread and pasta. Well, it’s good even a few days a week to eat these beautiful vegetables.
I love your creamy kale salad Suzanne. Pulsing the avocado is a great idea for the creamy dressing. And broccoli rabe and chickpeas in the oven is brilliant! I would love that combination.
Thank you so much, I followed the recipe since this was my first time making it but next time I am adding more, maybe some farro, peppitas, dried cranberries, make it a whole meal. The broccoli rabe is perfect exactly like it is, loved it with the fresh ricotta drizzled with some olive oil.
That salad is right up my alley, Suzanne ! 🙂
Many thanks !!!
You are so welcome, it’s a really good salad with lots of possibilities for variation. Thank you.
What an awesome post Suzanne. Clean eating is so good….I don’t do that often as I should. That salad is awesome. Love walnuts in a salad. Envious of Patty now ;)… Have never tried Kale in salads…
The combo of broccoli ribs n chickpeas is so intriguing….Must have tasted awesome….
Loved this post so very much. 🙂
Thanks Sonal, I love clean food and really should have it every day, it’s delicious and healthful. The broccoli rabe and chick peas was my favorite of the two, really great flavor, and broiling the broccoli rabe was fast and got really good results.
Will try the broiling next time :).
This looks like such a good, healthy salad! I’m trying to eat more kale, so this is perfect!
I like kale a lot, don’t use that often though, this salad is great. Love the broccoli rabe though. Thank you.
Delicious wholesome food! Those walnuts really look yummy.
Yes it certainly is, and those walnuts are amazing,
Your salad looks very tasty Suzanne and I love the addition of chickpeas and walnuts 🙂
I love both and they added a lot to both dishes. Thanks so much,
Your salads look delicious and they are super healthy which has to be a good thing. I agree about not eating processed food. It’s a shame the food lobby is so powerful as processed food cannot be good for the health of any nation. 😉
It really is a shame, processed foods are the mainstay of so many and it’s really sad. I succumb and have processed food from time to time but try not to keeping it whole, Thanks so much.
Oooohhh, Suz, that creamy kale salad is right up my alley. I wish I had some right now. Marvelous!!!
Thanks Em, that salad is really good. I actually thought of you when I was making it I know you love kale.
All looks so delicious Suzanne!!! 🙂
Thanks so much Amy.
Wow, this looks delicious. I love that the creaminess comes from avocado and not heavy cream. Yum! I also love the hint of mustard and the fruits and nuts. This is certainly healthy. I’m going to make this salad.
You’ll enjoy it Amanda, tailor to suite your taste, there is so much you can add or not add to make this salad your own, it really is delicious. Thank you.
This looks amazing. I am copying this down for dinner next week. My husband and I are trying to eat healthier, but with style and this looks perfect.
Thank you, both recipes are terrific, I also am trying to incorporate more healthful choices each week.
Oooh my fave, hands down is the rapini recipe!! LOVE that stuff and your recipe sounds wonderful! Good and healthy stuff!
Both of these salads look fantastic – I especially love beets and am always looking for new ways to use kale…
I love love love kale and not even for health reasons, so that salad is definitely a winner for me! Thanks for sharing!
You are so welcome, kale is so good and I feel really good after eating it. Thank you so much.
superb post Susanne !!! unfortunately we do not get kale here in India, but i am sure i can suffice with baby spinach 🙂
Absolutely, spinach is a great substitute.
🙂
Lovely salad Suzanne, kale is one of my favorites!
Me too, thank so much.
what an idea…
Thanks so much, delicious clean food.
Love it! Love it!
Thanks so much Susan.
Love kale and fruit in salads, but hadn’t tried with apple, this sounds yummy. And fresh walnuts too 🙂
Apples and walnuts are great with kale, I usually have it with dried cranberries and thats great but I love the fresh apples with the kale. Thanks so much.
Mango with kale is probably my favourite 🙂
Never tried but will!
I think “clean eating” as being how my grandmother used to cook– things grown in her yard, including her chickens. — and thanks Suzanne, for the tip about Tuscan Kale– didn’t know there was a difference.
Yes apparently there is although I have made salads from red kale, green kale not using the tough stems and it was very tender. I do really like Tuscan kale, it;s wonderful. Thanks Rhonda.
I’m going to track it down…
Yayyay! I’m so glad you like the walnuts, Suzanne!! How are you and the fur babies doing?
Those are the biggest, fattest most wonderful walnuts I’ve had. Thank you again. They really made this salad special.
You let me know if you want more and I’ll mail you some!
You are so sweet, thank you.
Both these dishes look so fresh and delicious. Must try’s.
Thanks Cindy, they were very fresh and delicious.
love the healthy! Yum 🙂 And gorgeous, too.
Thanks Liz, must eat healthier and this is really delicious.
Yum! I am always looking for new vegetable recipes and these two recipes for greens are so inspiring Suzanne! Particularly the kale one. I’ve only really used the curly variety which needs a LOT of massaging to taste good raw. Using Tuscan kale makes heaps of sense… I need to track some down as soon as I get home. Thanks for the links on clean eating. It’s quite a buzz word on the net recently and I think a lot of people over-use it, but it makes a lot of sense when you think simply about it! Great post! xx
Thanks Laura, eating clean is one of those things that is “fashionable” but it’s been around for eon’s and is the way we should eat and some of us aspire to eat that way all the time, I fall short of 100% by fairly wide margin but do keep processed food to a minimum and try to eat sensibly despite my love of sugary sweets. I feel like I am a split personality when it comes to food.
These recipes look so delicious! I am really looking forward to making the Creamy Kale Salad this week. Thanks for sharing!
Both recipes are really good, love the kale salad. Thank you so much.