One of my favorite restaurants in Nashville is Tavern, it’s very hip and has amazing food. One of my favorite dishes they serve is this Kale salad. It’s sweet and savory and perfect. While I lived in Nashville I frequented Tavern quite often… quite often. I love this salad so much, it was my last meal in Nashville and the leftovers made the 14 hour trek to Houston. That road trip story is for another day..

Anyway, I find myself craving this salad quite often and have come up with my own version to satisfy my cravings when I wish I could be at Tavern.

What you’ll need: Filet of Salmon, Bunch of Kale, (I like to use a fresh bunch of dinosaur kale, but my grocery was out so I used the prepackaged kind. Whatever you have works) 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, 1/4 cup Slivered Almonds, 2 Tbs Olive Oil, Juice of 1 lemon, and 1/4 cup whatever dried cranberry mixture you have (I used a mixture of cranberries, currants, and raisins) 

Serves 2

First, set your oven on broil to prep for the salmon. Then, in a food processor pulse down ALL of the Kale. I used one entire container and it ended up being enough for 2 servings.

After you have pulsed down all of the Kale, reserve it in a large mixing bowl. You want the kale to be pulsed very fine. If you don’t have a food processor you can finely mince with a knife.

I like my almonds toasted a little bit in a skillet, if you like them raw you can do that too. Paint a little outside the lines, no one will tell on you.

Once the almonds are done we are going to assemble our salad. Add the almonds to the mixing bowl, along with the parmesan cheese, dried fruit and lemon juice. Fold all of the ingredients together lightly. Season with a touch of salt and pepper.

Cover the salad and keep in the fridge for a bit and we’ll move onto the salmon. You can prep the salmon and make the salad while it cooks, but I like to let the flavors marry a little bit before serving.

When I went to the grocery store I saw that they had unveiled the fall beers so I had to grab a Blue Moon Pumpkin brew to go along with my cookin’. Sometimes a gal gets thirsty in the kitchen.

Once your oven is heated fully on the broil setting we’ll get that salmon in the oven. There are MANY MANY ways to prepare salmon, this way is just my favorite. It’s easy and fast and keeps the moisture nicely in the fish. The key is the magic salmon seasoning. My cousin introduced me a few years back and I’ve been hooked ever since.

You can also just use some salt and pepper and a pinch of cayenne.

I let my salmon cook for about 8-12 minutes, depending on how “done” you like your salmon. Once it’s done cooking pull the salad out of the fridge and plate her up.

This definitely satisfies my Tavern cravings! Enjoy!