Something has been eating the fall plants in my garden. Although the plants are atill small, the other day I harvested as much kale and Swiss chard as I could. I washed them, placed them in a single layer on paper towels, rolled them up, placed them in a plastic bag in the fridge.

That was almost a week ago.  Tonight I used the kale in a salad, and the texture and freshness of the kale was perfect.

I made a champagne vinaigrette, inspired by a sherry vinaigrette I found in the Edible Pioneer Valley magazine. It went perfectly with the kale. A definite keeper in my salad dressing arsenal.

Kale Salad

4 cups kale, stems removed and leaves torn into bite-sized pieces (from the garden)

1/4 cup dried cherries

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Champagne Vinaigrette

2 Tbsp champagne vinegar

1/2 Tbsp lemon juice

3/4 tsp soy sauce

3/4 tsp Dijon mustard

3/4 tsp Kosher salt

1/2 Tbsp fresh Thyme leaves (from the garden)

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 shallot, minced

Directions

Make the dressing – in a blender, puree the vinegar, lemon juice, soy sauce, mustard, salt and thyme leaves.  With the blender running, add the olive oil. Pour into a covered jar and add the shallots, shake well.

Make the salad – Toss the kale, dried cherries and parmesan in a bowl.

Toss with some of the dressing.  If it seems too dry, add more dressing.

Serve and enjoy! We had ours with salmon cakes from Tori Avey.

Serves 2 – 4.