Cook: Kale and Persimmon Salad
I recently went to The Progress in San Francisco and they had a wonderful persimmon salad on the menu. I love persimmons and decided I wanted to incorporate them into more dishes. During winter time, they are in season, and you’ll often see them in abundance at Asian markets. The fruit has Asian roots and is the national fruit of Japan (called kaki in Japanese). There are even haiku’s dedicated to this treasured fruit.
If you’re unsure of which type to buy, I recently read a really great article in Bon Appetit about the fruit. “The Fuyu is round and Flat on the bottom, and if you eat it when it’s Firm, it’s Fine. The Hachiya is Heart-shaped and pointy on the bottom, and you Have to Hold off.” This is the advice given by Carla Lalli Music. The full article is linked here. The Fuyu variety is great for salads and the Hachiya variety is delicious served with greek yogurt and some nuts (or condensed milk if you want to really do it Asian style). There's really endless possibilities when it comes to cooking with persimmons. I made persimmon bread last year because I bought so many that I couldn’t eat them all before they went bad.
Back to the salad, I used veggies that were in season like kale, yellow beets (that I roasted), and brussel sprouts. All the textures combined with the sweet persimmons gave me a completely balanced and satisfying salad. It even filled up Elliott, who doesn’t love salads.
I often get asked how I cook so much during the week. My secret is pretty simple, I buy groceries for only 2 recipes per week. Both of those meals usually share some of the same ingredients, and each night, I simply change them up just a little bit. I bought enough salad ingredients for Monday-Wednesday. On Tuesday night, instead of using roasted beets, I used roasted purple carrots to change things up. Then, on Wednesday, I’ll simply saute those beet leaves from the yellow beets to add it as another new topping to the salad. This creates variety but you don’t have to buy a ton of veggies. You can usually use different parts of the veggies for different textures and flavors.
Ingredients:
1 Fuyu persimmon (peeled and cut into bite sized chunks)
1/2 bunch of Kale (washed and trimmed)
A large handful of brussel sprouts (washed and sliced)
1/2 bag of baby cauliflower (these are light green with white tops - regular cauliflower is fine if you don’t have access to the baby cauliflower)
4-5 yellow beets (roasted) or any variety of vegetable you can roast
Everything bagel spice (I like to add this to any veggies I roast)
Kosher salt and pepper
Dressing Ingredients:
1 shallot (thinly sliced)
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of Balsamic vinegar (more to taste)
Kosher salt and pepper
1 tsp of strong dijon mustard
1 tbsp of brown sugar
Instructions:
Wash and chop all your vegetables (kale, brussel sprouts and baby cauliflower)
Wash and dry your beets (save the large leafy stems, you can saute those for something else). Cut them in quarters and generously mix them in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, plus some salt and pepper). For tips on roasting veggies, click here.
Begin making your dressing. Put the sliced shallot in a bowl along with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Let this sit for 15 minutes. After the shallots have lost some of their bite, put in the dijon mustard, brown sugar, a little bit more olive oil if necessary and salt and pepper to taste.
Arrange all your greens in a large bowl. Lightly dress the veggies with the dressing so everything is evenly coated.
Once the beets are done, place them on top of the salad along with the Fuyu persimmon.
Reserve some dressing on the side if you need more!
Roasted beets in balsamic and olive oil. And, everything bagel spice. One of my faves!
Letting the shallot macerate to cut some of the bite. Shallots add a ton of flavor.
Night one with beets
Night two with purple carrots.