Kale Salad with Peaches, Sweet Corn, and Basil-Honey Vinaigrette

Kale – you either love it or hate it.  I happen to be one of those people who genuinely loves kale.  My poor husband, on the other hand, not so much.  I continually buy it at the grocery store each week and he eats it without complaining, but I know it’s not his favorite.  So the other night when he asked what was for dinner and I told him “kale salad”, the look on his face was less than enthusiastic, ha!  When I told him that the recipe included the sweet corn and peaches I bought from the Farmer’s Market that weekend he perked up a little. 🙂

This salad is super easy to make and takes no time at all to put together.  The sweet peaches paired with the tangy chevre and slight bitterness of the kale is a winning a combination in my book!  AND I am happy to report Kevin also loved the salad and took back his pre-judgements.  Hail to the kale!

To make the dressing for this salad, I used a basil infused olive oil my friend Kelly sent me as well as a peach white balsamic vinegar I picked up from Oh Olive in Lincoln Park.

For my birthday, Kelly sent me a sampler pack of different flavors of olive oil and balsamic vinegars she got from Blue Ridge Olive Oil in Georgia.  It’s been so fun to pair together the different flavor oil and vinegars to try different combinations.

Kale Salad with Peaches, Sweet Corn, and Basil-Honey Vinaigrette

recipe adapted from Eats Well With Others

Ingredients

• 1 large bunch of kale, stems removed and leaves torn into bite-sized pieces
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 peaches, pitted and sliced
• 2 ears of corn
• 4 oz fresh chevre
• 1/2 french baguette, cubed
• 4 tbsp parmesan cheese
• salt

Basil-Honey Vinaigrette

• 2 tbsp olive oil (I used basil infused olive oil)
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (I used peach white balsamic vinegar)
• 2 tsp whole grain mustard
• 2 tsp honey
• 6 basil leaves, minced
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, toss the torn kale with olive oil and salt.  Massage oil into kale until it turns a dark green color and volume reduces by half.
3. Place the cubed bread onto foil lined baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.  Bake in oven for 10 minutes.
4. Place kale in bowl with sliced peaches, corn, and chevre.
5. To make the vinaigrette, whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard, honey, and basil.  Season with salt and pepper.
6. Top salad with parmesan croutons and vinaigrette.

Enjoy!

Linking up with Jenn.