Within the last couple of years, every restaurant in New York City and every food magazine adopted kale as their go-to vegetable.  Kale was dried, sautéed, baked, drizzled, wrapped, and, primarily, served raw.  The latter is all well and good when the kale is young and fresh from the garden, but, for me, big tough raw leaves do not make a satisfying salad or side.  Cooked, that’s a different matter – once they are soft and unctuous anything goes, but garlic, lemon, and olive oil really do put icing on that cake.  By this past spring, I’d had it with kale and threatened to never, ever eat it again.

BUT, then last week I saw some deep green, curly leaves in the farmers market and I was hooked.  At the same time, I purchased a big, creamy white cauliflower and some yellow beets and somehow all of those fall wonders came together in my mind and I produced this salad which instantly turned into a “make that again” dish.

I pulled the cauliflower apart into little florets and roasted the whole batch in olive oil, lemon zest, salt, and pepper in a very hot (425ºF) oven until the florets were golden brown and crisp around the edges.

While the cauliflower was roasting, the kale was cut into ribbons and the beets into julienne and tossed together in a big bowl.  When the cauliflower was done I scraped the whole hot mess into the kale mix and tossed the salad together.  The heat wilted the kale – just enough to tenderize it nicely.  I added a light vinaigrette made with moscato vinegar and olive oil – gave a taste and added some sea salt and pepper.  And, what did I get – a delicious fall salad that was about as nutritious and satisfying as it could possibly be —- next time, I’m going to try tossing it into some hot pasta with some lemon zest and freshly toasted bread crumbs added at the last minute.