J'adore kale: Part Trois *Kale in Italy and Raw Kale Salad Recipe*

While Sir Lancelot was back in New York for business, my lovely cousin Anais and I traveled to Cinque Terre, Italy for a four day little trip. I have lots of lovely photos to share but wanted to talk about one of the best events of the trip.

We were in day three of our Cinque Terre exploration and had just taken the local train from Monterosso, where we stayed, to Riomaggiore, the fifth of the five towns. Right when we entered the main street of the small town, I spotted a little market and it was like the sky opened up and angels were singing...

Kale in Italy!

I screamed, "KALE," loud enough so that everyone stared at me and immediately bought the two bunches in the basket. The woman in the little shop looked at me strangely because I was wearing a very unattractive but functional purple striped zip-up and was clearly a tourist buying a green vegetable that would die in two days. I also begged for a larger bag since this was 11am in the morning and we had a full day of sightseeing and a three hour hike ahead of us.

Needless to say, I was determined and Anais was a good sport and was supportive of my kale buying. Please, her dad grows the stuff and has it coming out his ears in Florida and Pennsylvania. *Insert plug for my farmer uncle and his awesome produce. If you live in America, go buy Lady Moon Farms!* 

I carried that baby for a three hour hike wearing my ugly purple zip-up.

After taking the romantic walk on Via Del Amore from Riomaggiore to Manarola, we had a wondeful two hour lunch at Tratorria da Billy (highly recommended!) on the top of the town. It was almost near disaster because by the time we walked all the way back down to the bottom again, I realized I left the big bag of kale at the trattoria! I swear it wasn't the bottle of Dolcetto that accompanied our homemade, fresh lobster pasta...

Anais was so supportive of my kale that she encouraged us to walk back to the restaurant where the nice owner had my kale waiting for me - but clearly thought I was crazy that this was going to be my Cinque Terre souvenir.

There is a beautiful Vineyard walk in Manarola, along pastel-colored homes with the quintessential Italian gardens and look what I found there... again the sky opened and angels sang...

Gorgeous gorgeous kale! 

I was about 1 second away from stealing all the leaves off this person's plant to add to my already large bag of leafy green goodness!

Luckily, the kale survived the entire day as well as the following day's 14 hour train journey from Monterosso to Paris. I returned home to a happy Sir Lancelot who was excited for his first raw kale salad in months! Not to mention he brought me some kale surprises from America! It was a true kale party in Chez Lancelot!

So what was the first thing that I did with my kale treasure? I made a raw kale salad. Miam Miam!

I don't know whether it's because everyone from home knows I have a healthy mom or if it's because they read my blog that they know I am obsessed with this vegetable, but I receive about one request a month from people that actually have access to this green on what the heck they should do with it.

I'm not one to go all cooking blog on you but I just have too much love for this leafy green and since I finally have access to it for one day, I present to you the very easy and simple but tasty, Raw Kale Salad. It's nothing I created but one of the dishes I hold nearest and dearest to my heart. 

Step 1: Carefully clean the kale leaves one leaf at a time under cold water. 

Step 2: Cut each leaf horizontally at the point where the kale stem seems to become too thick to easily chew. 

Step 3: Vertically cut the piece with the larger stem on each side of the stem so that you can add the good part of the kale to the top half of each leaf.

Step 4: Put together all of the leafy part of the cut kale and chop into smaller 1/2 inch pieces. 

All you need is a lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper. Since it is spring, I decided to add sliced cherry tomatoes and red/black radish - but this can vary depending on your mood, the season or really anything! 

Step 5: Place the kale in a larger bowl and squeeze one half of the lemon. Add a drizzle of olive oil (start with a tablespoon) and add salt and pepper to taste. You can add more lemon or olive oil later after tasting depending on your preference.

NOW HERE IS THE KEY PART

Step 7: The Kale Massage. 

As my cousin's friend said once, "Who wouldn't want a good kale massage? You must work the kale with your hands and massage in the lemon juice and olive oil. This softens the kale leaves and when it's later in the season and kale is not as young and the leaves more tough, this step is even more crucial. After about a minute or so of your kale massage you can let the salad sit in the fridge or room temperature until the rest of your meal is ready. Or if you're like me, try not to eat the whole thing right away! 

Add whatever additions you like (squash, sweet potato cubes, almonds, parmesan cheese, avocado, etc...) and voilà!