If you aim bring lunch to work every day, I’m sure you’ve had one of these nights: it’s past your bedtime, you have absolutely nothing lunch-worthy in the fridge, and you want an easy option to pack the next morning.
For this salad, I cooked spelt overnight in the slow cooker. I worried it would get too soggy (most slow cooker recipes were written for a breakfast porridge), but it emerged intact and springy. The rest of the recipe was easy to assemble in the morning.
Recipe: Spelt and Kale Lunch Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked spelt (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
- 2 cups water
- pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp vinegar
- 2 tsp honey (or more to taste)
- 2 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1/3 c olive oil
- 1 large apple
- 1 bunch curly kale
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
Instructions
- To slow-cook spelt: place spelt, water, and salt in a slow cooker. Cook overnight on low, about 6-8 hours. (Alternately, cook spelt according to the package directions.)
- Pour off any excess water from your cooked spelt.
- Make the vinaigrette: in a large bowl, whisk the vinegar, honey, and mustard until combined. Taste for sweetness and add additional honey if needed. Slowly add olive oil while continuing to whisk.
- Chop the kale: I like to roll it into a thin, long bundle and cut into 1/2 inch strands.
- Add the kale to the vinaigrette. If you’re not squeamish, massaging the dressing into the raw kale by hand will considerably soften your salad and make it easier to eat.
- Core and chop the apple.
- Add the apple, sunflower seeds, and spelt to the salad and mix thoroughly.
