Not another kale Caesar salad
This riff on a classic Middle Eastern salad is a vibrant flavor bomb
Howdy planet savers, and welcome back to Cool Beans! When Philly-based chef Michael Solomonov and his business partner Steve Cook aren’t opening restaurants, collaborating on cookbooks, and racking up James Beard Awards—five at last count—they’re at home serving up their favorites to family and friends. So when we asked Solomonov for a recipe he makes On Repeat, he chose kale salad with pomegranate from the duo’s newest cookbook, Zahav Home. “Our kale salad is a riff on tabouli and it’s f*ckin’ awesome,” Solomonov says. “Kale takes on so much flavor—it’s not just a foil for Caesar salad dressing.”
Why I love it
“Kale salads can be too thick and the kale gets wedged in your esophagus. We use a food processor to mince up the kale. It's very easy to make and it takes seconds. I feel like it’s the antithesis of what a culinary school would teach you: that you gotta use a knife. Using a food processor to mince it up is amazing.”
What I’ve changed
“The recipe is pomegranate and citrus but you could add apples, you could add walnuts, whatever you want. I eat a huge bowl of it over steamed rice and it’s incredible. Over brown rice it’s healthy, or add a legume like black-eyed peas or something and you’ve got a complete protein.”
What else I’m into right now
A new plant-based bible. Joe Yonan’s new book [Mastering the Art of Plant-Based Cooking] is incredible. It makes the case for plant-based eating and it’s delicious food first so I don’t think it’s a trend or fad vibe. You kind of just want to be friends with him. It’s like your friend is walking you through the narrative of making your own oat milk or whatever.
Using the scraps. We’re going to open a restaurant called Aviv in the 1 Hotel in Miami. The menu has been considered and shaped as it relates to food waste. We went through the menu and they’re like, “Yeah, you know, what are you gonna do with the scraps of the cauliflower?” That’s how we like to cook in our restaurant—and that’s when you are the most liberated and creative—when you have to turn things into something else.
Onion peel smoke. When we’re [peeling and chopping] onions we like to save the onion skins. We like to stoke charcoal with them, and it makes delicious smoke for kabobs.