Mediterranean Kale Tuna Salad

Kale is a tough vegetable. Almost no one I know really likes it. Since discovering the best way to eat kale awhile back, I love it.

This Mediterranean kale salad is definitely a favorite of mine. It’s healthy and filling, and since it’s got protein from tuna, it’s the perfect salad to eat when you don’t want to heat your kitchen to a million degrees.

And, because it’s loaded with flavorful ingredients like olives, feta, and peppadew peppers, it’s amazingly delicious. For a salad, could you ask for anything more?

For me, the best way to eat kale depends on a couple things. First, I am particular to Tuscan kale. It’s the one with the long, dark leaves. Also called dinosaur kale, or lacinato, it’s kind of sweet, and insanely healthy. So when I make this Mediterranean kale salad, I typically use this one.

I slice the kale into thin ribbons and then grab a giant salad bowl. As I add the kale to the salad bowl, I massage it with my fingers. Just press it to soften the leaves. Then I add a big pinch of coarse sea salt. These two things make a huge difference when making a kale salad.

For most of my salads, I use a combination of kale and Romaine. It’s crunchy, fresh-tasting, familiar, and not hard to chew. There’s nothing worse than having to chomp on a salad for an hour.

From there, I add the remaining ingredients. In this case, all the flavorful things listed above, plus some pita chips, and a can of oil-packed tuna. The dressing is a very simple concoction of olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon, and garlic. I have found that the simplest dressings are often the best, especially in the case of salads packed with umami ingredients like this one.