Avocado & Squash Kale Salad

Posted by Cara - October 19th 2015

Discussion of favorite foods always breaks the ice, doesn’t it? I remember how in every new situation, from summer program orientations to freshman move-in, conversation with brand new acquaintances would quickly turn on the best of the bad options in the dining hall or the foods we missed most from home.

Talking about food is fun. Clearly! The food blog section of the internet has taken those ice-breaker conversations to a new level. Here, we talk about food all the time. But there are a few different conversations happening. One is along the lines of new recipes and techniques-no-knead bread, peanut butter cookies, flourless pancakes. Everyone’s eager to tell everyone else when they discover that chia seeds make pudding! That you can make cookies with nothing but peanut butter, sugar, and egg!

Another running chat is about the variations and tweaks that we each make in our own kitchens, which we want to shout about because adding cheese and avocado and slightly warm roasted acorn squash to the massaged (yes) kale salad you already know about makes the leafy green salad creamy and rich and ready for fall. It’s a tiny update, but kind of important. So I’m informing you about this right now, and I’m also telling my new friends and followers over at the recently launched cooking app, HOORRAY.

Hoorray is a mobile cooking experience that lets you join up with an enthusiastic and social community so that you can learn, share, and improve your culinary skills. It’s a place where bloggers like me can communicate really easily with anyone who selects one of my recipes and hops over to the kitchen to cook it. Meaning, once you sign up for Hoorray, you can cook along with this kale salad, build a shopping list right from the recipe, and then re-share this recipe into your timeline complete with your changes and comments. Check out my account here and see the kale salad too.
Thank you, Hoorray, for sponsoring this post! Thank you, readers, for following along and checking out the (free) app to get more social with your cooking. To recap, Hoorray brings all of us food enthusiasts together to get inspired by and chat with our fellow foodies. The app allows us all to see what’s cooking in the pots and pans of people we follow, and share recipes, stories and delicious food photos of other home chefs.

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Avocado & Squash Kale Salad
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2 servings
 
The only kale salad you need this fall. The squash, avocado, and parm are also great topping for a romaine salad. You can keep this salad for a few days, though the avocado may brown slightly.
Ingredients
  • 1 acorn squash
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 bunch lacinato kale
  • 1 avocado
  • ¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 1 garlic clove, grated
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut the squash in half through the stem and scoop out all the seeds. Brush the halves with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake until soft, 45 minutes to 1 hour (a knife inserted should go in really easily.) Set aside until cool enough to handle.
  2. In your serving bowl, mix together the lemon juice and mustard. Slowly pour in 3 tablespoons olive oil, whisking as you go. The goal is to emulsify the oil in the vinegar, so that the dressing gets thick. Add the grated garlic, then sprinkle in salt to taste. Season with freshly ground pepper.
  3. Now, prep the ingredients: pull the kale leaves off the stems. Wash and dry them. Break into bite-sized pieces, and, as you add to the bowl with the dressing, crumble them between your fingers. Cut the avocado in half. Remove the pit and cut into cubes. Add to the salad bowl. Score the now-cooled squash into cubes and scoop those into the salad too. Add the Parmesan to the bowl as well, then toss everything together. Taste for balance of flavors, adding more cheese, lemon juice, or salt, as needed.

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  • Sally

    I just made this and it was delicious! The dressing is the exact right flavor.
    Next time, I would probably use 1.5 bunches of kale (or at least a big bunch), because I found that the salad was a little too heavily dressed. Also, 1/2 cups of cheese was more than enough: would probably have been fine with just 1/3 cup. Again, that could just be because I had too little kale. Finally, I was wondering if there would be a way to make the squash crispier on the outside. What about chopping it before roasting it? I think it would add a good crunchy texture to the salad: right now it’s just the same texture as the avocado.
    Anyway, it’s so delicious it’s like eating kale salad in a restaurant! I am definitely going to make it again and modify ratios of ingredients, because I think this could become a lunch staple.

    • http://biggirlssmallkitchen.com Cara

      So glad you enjoyed! I definitely like my salad cheesy, so makes sense if you reduced that amount. As for the squash, yes, roasting first would add more texture. I hate peeling squash - it’s a kitchen pet peeve - so that’s why I like this method (plus, as you say, it IS the same texture as the avocado). But by all means, try it roasted. Very glad you enjoyed!! C

    • http://www.biggirlssmallkitchen.com/ Cara

      So glad you enjoyed! Yes, I’m a cheese fanatic, so makes sense that you cut down (and always good to modify recipes to your tastes!). As for the squash, here’s the straight answer: I hate peeling squash. I didn’t mind it the same texture as the avocado, but if you’d like it crispier - which would definitely be yummy - do peel, cube, toss with oil, and roast.

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