I normally don’t get overly excited about salads (let’s face it, it’s SALAD) but this one was a different story. I ate probably 3 servings of this salad right after picturing it then the rest for lunch the next day. It was beyond delicious!
Of course the bread and the cheese didn’t hurt. 😉
I’ve talked about my love of beets before, so adding them to the mix was a total no brainer. And the pomegranates too. Love those things. The blood oranges we chose because we needed a citrus and blood oranges are so darn pretty. Plus they’re in season right now. As for the kale, usually kale isn’t really my thing. Cooked down is fine, but raw…meh. But I happened to find this organic baby kale at Mariano’s and it was a game changer for me. It’s not fibrous which is what I hate about kale.
So we tossed all our ingredients together not really knowing if they would compliment each other or not. Turned out perfect in my opinion. Crisp and sweet and rich and tart all at the same time. Basically the best salad ever. You’ve got to try!
Here is what you’ll need
Toss the bread in a little bit of olive oil then toast the bread
Make your vinaigrette
Grill the cheese
Dress the salad
Cross your fingers that Spring is coming!
Springtime Panzanella
Ingredients
- 2 cup baby kale
- 2 cup pumpernickel bread, cubed
- 4 roasted beets, chopped
- 3 oz hallumi cheese, chopped (with bacon crumbles…perfect!)
- 1/3 cup pomegranate arils
- 3 blood oranges, 2 for dressing & 1 cut into segments
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet and toss the cubed bread in a drizzle of olive oil. Arrange in a single layer on the baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until crisp. Set aside to cool.
- To make the dressing, whisk together olive oil, balsamic vinegar, juice from 2 blood oranges, honey and garlic. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- In a large bowl, gently toss together the kale, bread, segmented oranges, pomegranates and cheese with some of the dressing. Add the beets last as they dye everything red.
- Serve immediately.