This raw massaged kale and pomegranate salad platter on butter leaf lettuce cups has been a huge hit at my holiday parties. The vibrant green mixed with the bright red of the pomegranate seeds make this totally festive. For those friends who shutter when thinking of eating raw kale, the shredded texture of the kale chiffonade, the creamy avocado and the sweetness of the pomegranate make this salad much more palatable!
I get very artistic arranging all the ingredients and always enjoy putting it together, so if you have children in the house, be sure to ask them to help out - they'll have a blast.
Ingredients (Makes 3 large servings)
Salad:
1 bunch red butter leaf lettuce
1 bunch curly kale
Seeds from ½ pomegranate
½ large avocado or 1 small avocado
A handful of chopped raw almonds
Dressing:
3 tablespoons Olive oil
Juice from a lemon
Himalayan sea salt to taste
Instructions:
Whisk dressing ingredients in small bowl and set aside. On a serving dish, place 3 large butter lettuce leaves in a circular formation face up. Then place 3 smaller leaves inside the large ones. These will be “lettuce cups”.
Remove stems from the kale and chiffonade the leaves. (Google how to chiffonade and watch a how-to video - it's worth it!)
Place chiffonaded (is that a word?) kale in a medium sized bowl and pour dressing on top. Wash your hands well and massage dressing into kale until the leaves are tender. The dressing will "cook" the kale much like ceviche.
Spoon the kale mixture into each of the butter lettuce “cups”. Spoon pomegranate seeds and almonds on top of the kale mixture (or you could also mix them into the kale after massaging and then spoon into the cups).
Drizzle the whole platter with balsamic vinegar (optional).
You should be able to lift each large leaf cup (with its contents) right off the platter to serve on a someone's lucky plate. Enjoy!
