Recipe: Garlicky Grilled Kale Salad with Grilled Bread

Let’s say you’ve conquered the raw kale salad. Maybe you massage it, maybe you don’t, but it’s definitely no surprise anymore to sit down to a big bowl of raw, dark greens and chow down. But perhaps now you’re a little bored. You want something more — a recipe to impress your kale-loving friends and shake you out of your salad stupor this summer. Smoky and garlicky, studded with chunks of grilled bread, this grilled kale salad is it.

I started making grilled kale salads shortly after discovering the wonder that is grilled kale. If you’ve ever made kale chips, you know the magic of exposing kale to intense, dry heat: the formerly tough leaves crisp up, becoming browned and addictively crunchy at the edges. Grilling kale produces leaves that are crispy and charred in some spots, tender and chewy in others — and while they make a fine snack straight off the grill, dressing them and turning them into a salad is worth the extra step. Although you lose most of the crunch, the smoky flavor intensifies after the leaves are dressed, making a kale salad that tastes like no other.

The only thing more exciting than grilled kale might be grilled bread. Although it seems like glorified toast, a piece of good bread rubbed with a little oil and salt, then grilled until crunchy and striped black, is not toast. It is so much more than toast. After grilling, the bread stays soft and a little chewy in the middle, and soaks up some of the flavorful dressing without getting soggy. I won’t blame you for rooting around in the kale for extra chunks of bread while dishing up your second helping.

A little tart, very garlicky, with an unusual smoky flavor, this is a kale salad to bring to your next summer potluck, or make at the next backyard BBQ. If nothing else, it will get you out of a raw kale salad rut — for the next few months, at least.