Author Notes: I hate naming salads. You just name them the things that are in them, which is so boring. By that rule, this is a baby kale salad with radish, egg, and pesto. But I’m gonna call it 3 P.M. Salad, because that’s when I made it, and it was a perfect non-mealtime eating situation. —Kendra Vaculin
Makes: however much you want! adjust accordingly. but enough dressing for 4 to 5
Ingredients
For a single serving of salad:
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1
big handful baby kale
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2
radishes, thinly sliced into rounds and then halved
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1
egg
For dressing (makes about 1/2 cup, enough for 4 to 5 servings of salad):
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1
cup packed torn basil leaves
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1/4
cup olive oil
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juice of a small lemon
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1/2
cup cooked white beans (I used navy)
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2
large cloves garlic, roughly chopped
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salt and fresh ground pepper
Directions
- Make a 6-minute egg! If you have a favorite method, knock it out, and ignore my egg steps below. If not: Stick your egg on the counter to become room temperature while you make the dressing. Also, stick a small bowl or glass of water in the freezer.
- To make dressing, stick everything together in a food processor or blender and blend until it’s smooth and dressing-y. For a thinner situation — or if you’re using a weaker green in the salad — add a small spoonful of water to the mix.
- Fill a saucepan 3/4-full with water and bring it just to the start of a boil. Carefully drop your egg or eggs into the water, and wait for 6 minutes. Remove the now very cold bowl of water from the freezer. (Alternatively, you can create an ice bath instead of freezing the water.)
- At the six-minute mark, when your phone alarm plays the Nicki Minaj verse from “Monster” (just me? cool), remove the egg from the saucepan with a slotted spoon and drop it into the cold maybe ice water. Let cool and then carefully peel the egg.
- Toss the baby kale and radishes in a bowl with your desired amount of dressing — I like enough to just barely coat the leaves. Stick into a bowl and top with your egg, cut in half directly on the salad. Finish with a little fresh ground pepper and siiiiingggg about how good that pesto smells.
Photo by James Ransom