LESLIE BUDEWITZ: Not long ago, I spotted a reference to a kale and white bean salad with oranges, dressed with olive oil and a splash of orange juice. I thought it sounded like a great combo, but that it needed a little more zip. None of the recipes I found quite matched what my mouth and eye wanted, so I riffed off a basic recipe and came up with this. The citrus and citrus vinaigrette give this salad a refreshing, zesty spark perfect for this time of year. Make it into a meal salad by adding cooked shrimp or chunks of cooked salmon or chicken.
Now, I know there are kale haters in the world, and if you’re one, this salad might change your mind. Or not. Massaging the kale—simply rubbing it with your hands and a little salt and olive oil—removes the occasional toughness, and leaves it soft and tender. You can buy kale by the bunch or bagged and chopped kale. Baby kale is a good choice, if available. I’ve never grown kale—maybe next year. (The gardener’s refrain!)
You will note no almonds or feta in the ingredients photos. I didn’t think about adding them until I was putting the salad together. Sliced onion is impossible to measure. Eyeball it, keeping in mind that red onion can be strong and tolerance differs.
As my description suggests, this is a flexible salad so add anything your little mouth desires. Enjoy!
PS: I finally figured out how to embed a PDF of the recipe for easy printing.
Scroll down to the 💕 for the link.
Kale, Orange, and Cannellini Salad
For the salad:
1/4 cup sliced or slivered almonds
5-6 cups kale
1-15 ounce can cannellini or other white beans
1/4 cup red onion
1 orange
1/4 cup crumbled feta, optional
For the dressing:
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste
Optional additions:
cooked shrimp
chunks of cooked salmon or chicken
Make the salad:
Heat the oven—a toaster oven is handy, if the weather is hot—to 300 degrees. Spread the almonds on a metal baking sheet and toast about ten minutes, then remove from oven. Remember that nuts continue to cook and take on color as they cool.
Lay the kale leaves on a large cutting board and cut alongside the stems to remove the leaves, or simply tear them off the stem with your hands. (You can leave the stems on if you’re using tender baby kale.) Chop or tear into bite-sized pieces and rinse well in a salad spinner, then place in a large bowl. Add a teaspoon of olive oil and a good-sized pinch of salt, then rub the leaves together with your hands until the kale begins to glisten with the oil.
Rinse and drain the beans. Slice the onion thinly. Peel and section the orange, then cut the sections into quarters or thirds. Add beans, onion, and orange to the kale.
Make the dressing:
Place all the ingredients for the dressing in a small, wide-mouthed glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. Shake well until emulsified—that is, until it takes on a creamy appearance.
Assemble the salad:
Just before serving, shake the dressing again and add to the kale mixture. Toss well to coat. Add toasted almonds and crumbled feta, along with the shrimp or other additions and toss lightly. Serve.
With almonds
With almonds, feta, and shrimp.
Serves 6 as a side salad, 4 for a meal. Leftovers will keep a day or two.
At Seattle Spice Shop, owner Pepper Reece has whipped up the perfect blend of food, friends, and flavor. But the sweet smell of success can be hazardous . . .
Spring is in full bloom in Pike Place Market, where Pepper is celebrating lavender’s culinary uses and planning a festival she hopes will become an annual event. When her friend Lavender Liz offers to share tips for promoting the much-loved—and occasionally maligned—herb, Pepper makes a trek to the charming town of Salmon Falls. But someone has badly damaged Liz’s greenhouse, throwing a wrench in the feisty grower’s plans for expansion. Suspicions quickly focus on an employee who’s taken to the hills.
Then Liz is found dead among her precious plants, stabbed by a pruning knife. In Salmon Falls, there’s one in every pocket.
Pepper digs in, untangling the tensions between Liz and a local restaurateur with eyes on a picturesque but neglected farm, a jealous ex-boyfriend determined to profit from Liz’s success, and a local growers’ cooperative. She’s also hot on the scent of a trail of her own, sniffing out the history of her sweet dog, Arf.
As Pepper’s questions threaten to unearth secrets others desperately want to keep buried, danger creeps closer to her and those she loves. Can Pepper root out the killer, before someone nips her in the bud?
ALL GOD'S SPARROWS AND OTHER STORIES: A STAGECOACH MARY FIELDS COLLECTION, now available in in paperback and ebook
Take a step back in time with All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection of historical short mysteries, featuring the Agatha-Award winning "All God's Sparrows" and other stories imagining the life of real-life historical figure Mary Fields, born into slavery in 1832, during the last thirty years of her life, in Montana. Out September 17, 2024 from Beyond the Page Publishing.
“Finely researched and richly detailed, All God’s Sparrows and Other Stories is a wonderful collection. I loved learning about this fascinating woman . . . and what a character she is! Kudos to Leslie Budewitz for bringing her to life so vividly.” —Kathleen Grissom, New York Times bestselling author of Crow Mary
Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!
Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Spice Shop Mysteries set in Seattle's Pike Place Market, and the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, set in NW Montana. As Alicia Beckman, she writes moody, standalone suspense, most recently
Blind Faith. She is the winner of Agatha Awards in three categories: Best Nonfiction (2011), Best First Novel (2013), and Best Short Story (2018). Her latest books are
To Err is Cumin, the 8th Spice Shop Mystery and
All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection, in September 2024. Watch for
Lavender Lies Bleeding, the 9th Spice Shop Mystery, on July 15, 2025.
A past president of Sisters in Crime and former national board member of Mystery Writers of America, Leslie lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine.
Swing by Leslie's website and join the mailing list for her seasonal newsletter. And join her on Facebook where she shares book news and giveaways from her writer friends, and talks about food, mysteries, and the things that inspire her.
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