Grænkálssalalat með bláberjasósu

Kale salad with blueberry dressing

My keyword today is seasonal food: I always have to get used to the fact that a lot of things in Iceland are different than I know from Germany. For example, rhubarb is in season in Germany from the beginning of April to mid-June - in Iceland the season starts a little later, but fresh rhubarb is still available until September. Or kale - a typical winter vegetable in Germany. As a child, I often heard that kale should only be harvested after the first frost.

In Iceland, on the other hand, kale is available all summer long. In fact, kale doesn't necessarily need frost to convert starch into sugar, but rather, ripe kale hardly contains any starch that could be converted, but continues to form glucose through photosynthesis - so it's not really about "the first frost" when it comes to kale, but rather to the generally low temperatures. Of course, that's not a problem in Iceland - the temperatures are low in summer. Our neighbor just told us that his potato plants froze last week because there was already night frost. So it's probably only fitting that kale in Iceland isn't limited to the winter season!

Ingredients

1 bunch of kale
50 g pumpkin seeds
1/2 red onion

50 rapeseed oil
50 g blueberry jam
2 Tbsp vinegar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
1 pinch of black pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme


Preparation

To make the salad, first roast the pumpkin seeds in a pan and let them cool again.

Wash and clean the kale and cut it into small strips.

Then place the chopped kale in a large salad bowl.

Peel the onion, halve it, cut it into thin strips and add it to the bowl.

Put the ingredients for the blueberry sauce in a blender and puree everything thoroughly.

Pour the sauce over the salad and mix everything thoroughly.

Add the cooled, roasted pumpkin seeds...

...and let the salad sit in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.

I actually never used to like kale - but I could have fallen for this fresh salad. Oh yes - I love it when my food is really colorful!

[Translated from here.]