The signature kale salad at the Asheville restaurant  Posana impressed me enough to try my hand at it at home. Then, I thought no more about it until I was at a pot luck and someone brought in “Posana’s kale salad”.  I was intrigued.  Did everyone go home from Posana and copy its salad?  Well, probably not everyone but the salad has caught the attention of several bloggers and can be found on-line at The Local Palate magazine site which features Southern cooking.

Posana is a farm-to-table restaurant in downtown Asheville, North Carolina, and lives up to what one has come to expect from such as establishment in that city.  The kale salad is not its only claim to fame as the phrase, here used in a different context, “its all good” comes to mind.

Ingredients:

1. 1 bunch lacinato (Tuscan) Kale
2. 2 tablespoons lemon juice
3. ¼  cup olive oil
4. 4 ounces Manchego cheese, grated
5. 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
6. 1/2 cup currants
7. Salt & pepper to taste 

Directions:

1. Rinse and spin dry the kale. Cut out the center vein.
2. Julienne very thinly – about 1/8th of an inch.
3. Mix the lemon juice and oil.
4. Place the kale in a large mixing bowl, drizzle the lemon juice/oil mixture and with either gloves or squeaky clean hands, massage the mixture by tossing it and squeezing it…that massaging step is Posana’s little secret which the waiter is very proud to divulge!
5. Grate the Manchego cheese roughly, and then chop it so that the little cheese pieces are chunky rather than strips
6. Add the Manchego cheese, pumpkin seeds and currants.
7. Season with salt & pepper
8. Plate by mounting the salad .