Fall Harvest Salad And Meeting A Friend
I honestly didn’t know what to call this salad. The name is sort of an accurate description. I saw this amazing Fall Panzanella salad on Susan Pridmore’s blog The Wimpy Vegetarian. I immediately knew I had to make it it just sounded so good, kale, butternut squash, bread, apples, onions. I fell in love, then I had lunch at Speedy Romeo’s, a fantastic restaurant in my neighborhood that makes the most amazing brick oven pizza in incrediblely creative ways. They also have some awesome salads, I ordered a kale, apple, pomegranate, goat cheese salad that rocked my world. I have to add that I went there with Patty Nguyen, she is an very talented photographer and has a beautiful blog of the same name that I have been following for several years now. This is not the first time we met, whenever Patty comes to NYC we get together. I had the pleasure of meeting her family this time and we had a wonderful time.
Pizza with Patty and family at Speedy Romeo’s Brooklyn photo by Patty Nguyen
Back to the salad as I explained Susan’s Fall Panzanella grabbed me and then the salad at the restaurant was incredible, they have similar flavor profiles. I need to eat more salad, but for me it has to be super flavorful and very interesting. Lettuce and tomato are great (on a BLT) but not that interesting. I decided to take both salads and take a little from each, add my own touch and see how it comes out. It had to have kale that was a must, I wanted it to be seasonal so I added butternut squash that was roasted in the oven, apples, some toasted pumpkin seeds and pine nuts and grated aged Asiago cheese. I used Susan salad dressing which is made with apple cider vinegar, maple syrup and apple. I massaged the kale for a long time, a good 15 minutes I wanted it to be really relaxed, 10 minutes with a little olive oil and another 5 minutes with dressing, added chopped apple, butternut squash,nuts, seeds and grated cheese, another splash of dressing, season and voila, a delicious, nutritious fresh salad, bursting with flavor.
Fall Harvest Salad
1 head green curly kale cleaned, leaves torn from stems and chopped chiffonade
2 apples cleaned, cut into bite size pieces
2 cups cubed butternut squash
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds toasted
1/2 cup pine nuts toasted
approximately 1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese
Pre heat oven to 375 degree’s. Place butternut squash pieces on sheet pan lined with parchment, drizzle with olive oil and toss to make sure every piece is covered in oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast in the oven for approximately 30 minutes or unti squash is tender and lightly browned.
Remove the squash and set aside, place the pumpkin seeds and pine nuts on the same piece of parchment and toast in the oven for about 15 minutes watching carefully so they do not burn. Remove nuts and set aside.
Grate cheese and set aside.
Place chiffonade kale in large salad bowl, drizzle on a little olive oil and massage the kale really well, I worked on it for about 10 minutes. Add some of the dressing and massage another 5 minutes. Cut the apple into bite size pieces and toss into the kale, add the squash, nuts and seeds, toss to combine, add the grated cheese, season with salt and pepper, add more dressing if you like (I did). You can serve immediately but this salad keeps really well in the refrigerator for hours so it can be made ahead of time.
Dressing- Apple Vinaigrette
Recipe by Susan Pridmore- The Wimpy Vegetarian
1/2 apple peeled, seeded and diced
3 tbs apple cider vinegar
1 tbs maple syrup
3-4 tbs olive oil
1/4 tsp kosher salt
Mash the apple in a small food processor, if you don’t have a small processor heat in the microwave for about a minute and mash using a mortar and pestle. Whisk mashed apple into the vinegar, salt, maple syrup and olive oil.
apuginthekitchen 
Yumm this is amazing! I love the squash and the pine nuts! So cool you meet up with this blogger friend! 🙂 thanks Suzanne very lovely pictures!
Thank you Lyn, the salad is really good and I enjoyed it and felt good afterwards too!! It was wonderful meeting Patty, she is so very sweet and talented.
my daughter made a salad like this last thanksgiving and I wonder if it from that site! I told her please make it again as yours looked so lovely! I love salads like this one! That is so nice Suzanne!
It’s very possible, Susan has some amazing recipes. I love the combination of flavors here. Thanks Lyn,
This looks like a wonderful salad. I love the touch of maple syrup in the dressing. I’ll have to try that. I’m always looking for great salad ideas. As for the outing, it seems like a wonderful success. Those pizzas look sooooo good.
The dressing is amazing, I think I could drink it, LOL. Thanks so much Amanda.
This looks so hearty and so delicious! You’ve got to love a salad that has yummy add-ins 🙂
Totally agree, the add in’s are what make this salad so delicious. Thank you so much.
Hi Suzanne, l love how you added your own touches to this salad, I bet it was delicious. Speedy Romeo’s pizza’s look amazing.
There pizza is beyond amazing the crust is paper thin and crisp, the toppings are so good. We got 4 different pizza’s and enjoyed each one of them. Thanks so much Cheri.
This is just what I’m looking for. Sounds Delish. I’ll add some dried cranberries also. Love to all! Maria
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I would have added cranberries if I had them, yes it will be delicious. Thanks Maria.
How lovely for you to meet with a bloogging friend! That’s a great thing to do – and those pizzas do look awesome. The salad sounds gorgeous, too, and the delicious dressing to go with it. I love pine nuts and butternut squash, but I’ve never tried toasted pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin isn’t used a great deal over here. It’s widely available at this time of year, but mostly for carving up for Halloween.
I love pumpkin and pumpkin seeds, toasting them brings out their delicious nutty flavor and it really adds a lot to the salad. Thanks so much Millie, I have two big pumpkins on my stoop that will get hollowed out and the seeds will be harvested once Halloween passes.
I’ll try roasting some when my grandchildren scoop out their pumpkins this weekend 🙂
I am a fan of seeds, pumpkin, sunflower and toasting in the oven makes them so good.
Hearty salad is any day winner..with pune but crunch this s great start for any meal
Yes exactly, so good!! Thank you so much.
This really does sound delicious, Suzanne. Thanks to your lovely photo, I can easily imagine all the flavors. And it is such a beautiful color of green. Have a wonder-filled week! Oh, and happy Halloween!
The flavors just jump out of the bowl at you, it’s really a lovely combination. Thanks Teagan.
As you know I just adore Patty and was so happy to know you saw her again and had the pleasure to meet the family and share a meal together, that is so great. I eat a salad every day and enjoy creating new ones. I too love the combination here and I am glad you enjoyed it! Your Florida Bud, Cheryl
Hey Cheryl thank you so much. I should be eating a salad every day, have to admit I don’t always do that. Now that cold weather is here/coming salads kind of go to the back burner but this one is hearty enough for the winter meals.
Yes, I can see how appealing to you it was! Not quite winter yet so you are ok to make again and again LOL.
:o)
Love the salad Suzanne! I saw the pictures on insta of you and Patty. Amazing!
That dressing sounds so flavorful. I am going to try that dressing. Have never used kale in salads. Is it bitter?
Not bitter at all, the kale is very mild in flavor. I like to use curly green kale for salads I know there must be other varieties that are good but I like this one because the leaves when massaged become very soft, kale can be a bit tough. Thank you Sonal. Patty and I had a great time and I LOVE her family.
I wish to meet you one day too Suzanne!
OMG, would love to meet you Sonal.
Those pizzas look great – and your salad as well. I happen to like bacon with kale (even though I no longer eat bacon). The news here today was about processed meat, and how bad it can be for you. Well, in moderation I would’ve thought it’s fine. But with the added cheese in your salad I wouldn’t miss the meat at all.
Ah, always love to see Patty’s photography.
Yes read that today as well. They said you would have to eat some sort of processed meat every day or pretty much every day to be at risk, the occasional piece or two of bacon or sausage is not really much of a risk. They said the risk is for colon cancer and as long as your diet is basically healthy you should be fine. I love bacon but only eat it on occasion, I can probably count the number of times I eat it on one hand in a year. The salad would be really good with bacon and I agree about kale and bacon being great together. What if you use unprocessed bacon,nitrite free, un cured I wonder. Sausage also is not always processed. Oh well, I think moderation is key to anything. Thanks so much Johnny.
I just looked at Patty’s blog and she made this amazing photo of Natural Bridges in my hometown Santa Cruz. What a talented woman. Your salad looks so healthy , I like the 15 minute massage. Thanks for sharing Suzanne and Happy Halloween .
Thanks Gerlinde, yes Patty is amazingly talented. Her photographs are beautiful. The kale massage is essential to tenderize and it also makes it very flavorful when you massage the dressing into the leaves. Happy Halloween to you also!
Seriously? Like rubbing and squeezing, that kind of massage, or is it a cooking term? (obviously, I’ve never had kale).
Yes rubbing , squeezing kneading all of that. It makes a world of difference in a raw kale salad if not using tender young kale. It also works the dressing into the leaves making them more flavorful.
Your version takes the best of the two. Looks wonderful! 🙂
Thanks Ronit!
This salad looks really wonderful. And so so healthy! I’ve never heard of massaging kale though, sounds kind of therapeutic – a bit like making risotto… Those pizzas look tdf – lucky you having that so close by.
Thanks so much, it is therapeutic and really does work wonders on those semi tough kale leaves making them soft and tender. Having such a great pizza place is a blessing and a curse at the same time. so delicious to eat but not so good for the figure. I try to forget they are there.
I adore a good kale salad. I make one with canned oranges, pom seeds, sliced avocado and pine nuts with an orange evoo and orange balsamic vinegar dressing. Super easy and simple as long as you massage the kale. This salad looks fantastic! I will definitely add this to my Thanksgiving menu! Thank you.
That salad sound realy good. I love oranges in salads especially those little canned mandarin’s. I also a a big fan of pine nuts in just about everything. Yes massaging the kale is key to a good kale salad for sure. Thank you so much. How do you make the dressing?
I usually wing my dressings. Double evoo to vinegar and add a T ish of dijon mustard and honey. Plus s&p. If you can find orange flavored evoo and vinegar they are great on salad.
Love the idea of orange flavor and I might grate some orange peel into the oil making my own orange EVOO. I would probably also mix some fresh orange juice with the vinegar for the acid part. Sounds wonderful, love using oranges in cooking and baking. Thanks.
This salad looks so easy and delicious! I haven’t gotten the chance to try kale though I’ve been seeing it in the supermarket, will give it a shot next week!
Hi Jasline, raw kale can be wonderful, delicious and nutritious. Make sure you only use the leaves the stems are very tough when raw and give it a good massage. It’s wonderful. Thank you so much.
Thank you for the tips Suzanne! What do you do with the stems? Is it possible to cook it to use it in another dish? Seems like a waste to just throw them out…
Oh yes save the stems, I put them in ziplock bags and freeze. I use them when I make vegetable stock.
I love everything about this salad, Suzanne! It must have a wonderful texture and crunch as well as taste. The dressing sounds so good, too. It is great you are able to get together with a fellow blogger! What a treat!
Thanks Shari the dressing is delicious and the combination with the kale and squash et al is terrific. I was so happy to see Patty again, she is one of the nicest people you will ever meet and so so talented. We had a great time.
This salad looks amazing! I love salads that are just in your face layers of flavor! That pizza looked pretty darned good too!
That pizza was amazing and I started a diet today!! Thanks so much.
I get that. Too much bread and cookies here!
I’m a real salad girl and your fall harvest salad sounds terrific and I can’t wait to try it. I use kale a lot but when I use it in salad, I like to use the baby kale as it doesn’t need to be massaged.
Next time I will try baby kale, would save my hands some wear and tear. Thanks so much Karen.
Exactly…I think you will really like the baby kale. 🙂
Next time definitely
Suzanne, the salad looks wonderful and really appetizing. The pizza looks so temting. I’m glad you had a great time with Patty. She is so nice and I’m huge fan of her work! 🙂
The pizza was amazing, I do love the salad too. Very fresh and lots of flavors and textures. Thanks so much Linda.
Oh wow this salad looks wonderful Suzanne…. love the dressing and addition of pine nuts… yummm
Thanks Chitra, the nuts and seeds toasted add a lot of flavor and texture. It’s a really nice salad.
The salad looks so good Suzanne with all those flavors and textures , and the dressing sounds fabulous too ! The pizza looks so tempting !!
Oh the pizza tempted and won, I really ate pizza that day and enjoyed every minute. Diet started yesterday. Salads are in order here. Thanks Freda.
Hi Suzanne, I’m so glad to be back from a long holiday in France. Lovely to see this wonderful and full of nutrient salad. 🙂
Sounds like you had a wonderful holiday Mochi, hope you are well. Thank you so much, I love this salad it’ really is nice.
Your Salad looks fantastic, but sadly once I got to the pizza picture I lost my train of thought LOL…YUMMMY too!!! 🙂
LOL, I know. I had salad before the pizza hoping that would satisfy and I would nibble on a piece of pizza. nope. It was so good I really ate way too much. Mind you the pizza’s are small as are the slices. It’s the best pizza I’ve had in NYC. Thanks Amy.
I confess I don’t like squash but the rest of the salad looks fantastic.
The beauty of this is that you omit and add whatever you like. Thanks so much! It would be great without the squash.
Suzanne, How lovely that you met with Patty and her family. Those pizzas made me hungry. Now as for the salad…. It looks fabulous! I like the addition of the roasted butternut squash, pumpkin seeds and pine nuts. I have never had kale in a salad. This is a perfect salad for me to start eating fresh kale. The dressing with diced apple, maple syrup mixed with apple cider vinegar sounds very tasty. I can see why this salad rocked your world! 😀 )))
It was such a great day and seeing Patty and her fiance and family was just wonderful. We had a great time, ate delicious food and talked. Such fun! The salad is so good and I feel good after having something that is so nutritious. Thanks so much Fae.
Pine nuts AND pumpkin seeds– love nutty salads Suzanne! And this looks super– I’m with you about salads. They have to be flavorful and have a real texture to make them inviting. And this salad is just perfect. (and that pizza was beautiful too!) Glad you had a good visit with Patty! fu post!
Thanks Rhonda, yes that salad is really chock full of flavor and texture, just the way I like a salad. Thanks again.
Looks so healthy and delicious!
Thank you so much.
How fabulous that you catch up with Patty each time she’s in NYC, Suzanne. Can you put Speedy Romeo’s on the itinerary for when I visit too!? 😉 Looks so good! As does your fall salad – love the combination of butternut squash and apple.
You bet. we will go for sure, would love to meet you Margot. Thank you so much.
That salad looks awesome, salads need to be interesting I think and that one definitely is. Yep, I can also proudly say I’ve also met Patty, and she is way more awesome than the salad 😉 xx
Oh she is way more awesome than pizza and salad. I love Patty and had the bonus of meeting her family. We had fun. Thank you so much Sofia.
That is a bonus, I’m sure it was a lot of fun xx
What better way to celebrate the season? This salad looks so refreshing, yum!
Thanks Mary Frances.
The salad looks good but what I love most is the photo of you and Patty 🙂 🙂 xx
You saw the photo,thank you. Patty is beautiful inside and out. I am so happy I was able to see her. Thanks so much Elaine.
She seems to be a truly lovely lady – you both do xx
Thanks Elaine yes she really is.
I just put all the ingredients I need for this on my list for today. Yesterday I was dreaming about a kale salad but a combination wasn’t coming to mind. Here it is! I’m making this for dinner tonight. Can’t wait! Also, earlier I noticed you had left a comment on my blog this morning and at the time I didn’t have time to reply. I just went in to reply and the comment is missing! ???
Thank you, I am making the salad again tomorrow. From yesterday? Yes I did comment will go back and look, how strange is that.
Woooooow Beautiful Suzanne and congrats for meet up you pal
Thanks Linda, it’s so nice meeting the people we visit online every day.
Beautiful!!
Thanks Susan, making it again for dinner tonight.
Sounds delicious! It never occurred to me to mix kale with apples (chorizo is my ingredient of choice), but this sounds just too intriguing!
Thanks Ginger, Kale and apples are a wonderful combination and with the nuts and seeds and nutty asiago cheese it’s very tasty. It would go very nicely with a bowl of your pumpkin soup! Thanks so much.
It sounds absolutely delicious on its own! What a wonderful mix of flavours.
This salad sounds wonderful–perfect for fall!
Thanks Nancy!
I’m a pretty big kale fan and this flavor combo sounds PERFECT- definitely plan on trying this SOON!
It’s a terrific salad, thanks Stephanie!
How wonderful Suzanne, one of the joys of the blogging world eh? I’m sure you and Patty and her family had a warm and memorable meet-up. Loving the salad too, and those pizzas look amazing! Someday, I hope to visit you on your home turf, the restaurant sounds lovely. Oh by the way, I just remembered, the prize that I had won a while back? I don’t know who I should reach out to to claim it – I was out of the country for 2 weeks and I’d love to claim it now. Thanks Suzanne, Happy Halloween 🙂
I can’t remember having a day that nice in a long time. Thanks Loretta. I reached out to them last week to remind them to send you the box. It’s the people at Mary’s Secret Ingredients. I will reach out to them again and remind them. They said they would get it out right away.
Thanks Suzanne, it’s very kind of you to have sent them a wee nudge :). I’m just curious is all.
This looks so fabulous!! Pinning!
Thank you so much.
Hi Suzanne! I just saw this post. Oh what a wonderful day we had. I can’t wait until we get to spend more time together! Your kale salad looks delicious. I’m sure it’s even better than the one we had at Speedy Romeo’s. Boy, was that a delicious lunch or what? I wish I had one in my neighborhood!!
Yes it was a wonderful day, this salad is good but the one at Speedy’s was amazing but I am still dreaming about that pizza. I wish I weren’t so close. The food there is so delicious it’s hard to stay away. I can’t wait until the next time you visit NYC!! Thank you so much.