- We are so excited about fall, and I have a salad for you that you're going to make on repeat. Check this out. (upbeat music) (Natasha groans) (laughs) Hey, everybody, it's Natasha of natashaskitchen.com. We are making a kale sweet potato salad. This is seriously a holiday-worthy salad, but we wanted to make it during the week. It is so good for you,
loaded with amazing flavors, and you are totally going
to love this dressing. And I'm hungry and craving
salad, so let's get started. All right, I don't know what
this is doing here. (laughs) We're going to start
with the sweet potatoes. And if you haven't already, make sure to subscribe to our channel if you like recipes that work. I've got my oven preheating
to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. And we're going to work on
the sweet potatoes first because they'll need
time to bake and cool. You'll need one and a half
pounds of sweet potatoes. That's about three smaller
sweet potatoes or two medium. Peel those, then dice them
into half inch thick pieces. To safely chop a sweet potato, I like to make sure
there's a flat surface. So cut it into quarters before chopping it into half inch pieces. Try to cut them to an even thickness so they bake up evenly in the oven. Bite-sized pieces like
this roast pretty quickly, and they're perfect for a salad. Transfer those to a large mixing bowl and drizzle with one
tablespoon of olive oil, half a tablespoon of maple syrup, half a teaspoon of fine sea salt, and a quarter teaspoon of
freshly ground black pepper. Toss the potatoes until
they're evenly coated, then transfer them to a
large lined baking sheet. You can either use a silicone
lining like this one, and I will link to this
in the recipe notes, or you can line with parchment paper. Having a liner ensures
that the sweet potatoes don't stick to your baking sheet and it makes cleanup super easy. Bake the potatoes in the
center of a preheated oven at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. I like to flip the
potatoes after 20 minutes to promote even browning. While that's in the oven, I'm going to make the rest of this salad. Toast half a cup of pecans
over a dry medium skillet until they're golden and fragrant. Transfer to a plate and
set it aside to cool. Now we're going to work on the dressing. In a Mason jar or a small bowl we're going to combine
the dressing ingredients. That's three tablespoons
of apple cider vinegar, one tablespoon of real maple syrup, then one tablespoon of Dijon mustard. Also you'll need one garlic clove, cut off the end, then peel it. And you can either finely
mince or use a garlic press. For something like salad dressing
where I'm not cooking it, it's perfectly okay to use a garlic press. And this is my favorite one. I will link to it in the notes. Next, add 1/3 cup of a good quality extra virgin olive oil, followed by half a teaspoon of salt and a pinch of black pepper. Now whisk vigorously
until it's well blended. This is the dressing
that dreams are made of. You just have to smell it to
know it's going to be good. When the sweet potatoes are done, they should be tender and
easily pierced with a fork. Take them out of the oven
and let them cool down. It's okay to add them
when they're just warm, but you don't want to add potatoes to the salad when they're hot. Next, we're going to tackle the kale. And don't be intimidated by using kale if you've never made a salad with it, it's actually really easy. Strip off the fiber
stem by holding onto it and pulling against it
with your other hand. This should make the
leaves come off easily. The stems are tough and difficult to chew, so you definitely want
to get rid of those. Once I've stripped off the kale leaves, I like to use a salad spinner to rinse and spin dry the leaves. You want the leaves to
be pretty well dried when you're putting them into the salad. If you put them in too wet, they can water down the dressing. This is my favorite salad spinner, and it has been so useful for years. I use it for all kinds of salad. Once the leaves are rinsed and dried, you want to finely chop
them into thin strips and transfer those to a large mixing bowl. It will look like a ton
of greens at this point, but once we add the dressing
and toss it together the greens will shrink down a little bit. Drizzle 3/4 of your dressing over the kale and set the rest aside for later. Now use two forks to
toss the kale together with the dressing for a couple minutes, or until the kale is reduced
by about 1/4 in size. Tossing the kale with
the dressing like this helps to soften it up and ensures that every bite is so flavorful. Next, scatter the roasted and cooled sweet potatoes over the kale. These little bites of sweet
potato are so addicting, and they're even better in salad. Next, slice and add one apple. You can use any apple that you like. I'm using a golden delicious
from my parents' tree, but you can use a green
apple, a red apple, really any apple you have on hand. Arrange the apple slices all
over the top of your salad. I like to put them in
little triplets like this. That way they stand out in the salad, and it just looks prettier, especially if you're serving the salad for a special occasion or the holidays. Now just sprinkle on the
rest of your toppings. We've got our toasted and cooled pecans. Also your dried cranberries. I'm using a generous half
a cup of dried cranberries for that sweet and tangy bite. Also, I'm adding two ounces
of crumbled goat cheese, which is about half a
cup once it's crumbled. Goat cheese is the perfect cheese topping for a salad that is sweet and savory. And if you've never tried goat cheese, I hope you fall in love
with it with this salad. Now last but not least, drizzle on the remaining 1/4 of your salad dressing. (grunts) You can add it to taste, or add every last drop 'cause it really is just the right amount, and
the dressing is (kisses). You'll see. You'll see when you try it. Okay, now all that's left
to do is to serve it. And you don't have to
toss this to combine it because remember we already
dressed the greens underneath. So you don't have to
make it ugly. (laughs) You can just serve it as is. Just have everybody
scoop their own portion. So that's exactly what we're going to do, because my goodness, I love that this is staring back at me. This is such a satisfying
salad, and I am hungry. We're going to jump right
into this taste test. Here we go. Oh, yummy yum. I love how the kale becomes tender and soft with the dressing, but it never gets soggy, which is amazing. You know, unlike romaine
or other simple greens. This one, actually, if you have leftovers, you can store it in the fridge and the next day have
the most amazing lunch. And it's had a chance to like meld with the flavors of the dressing. Like every bite of sweet
potato in the leftovers is just, mwah, you'll see. (laughs) This is one of those
salads, a rare thing, right? A green salad that keeps
well in the fridge. Love it, love it. Okay, here we go. My favorite part. Okay, and I want to make sure I get a little bit of
everything on my fork. Yum. Mm, mm. Wow. Every bite of that kale is so tender and loaded with flavor because it's coated with the dressing. Oh, (laughs) it's so good. And I love the crisp apples,
the crunchy toasted pecans, and make sure you toast them because it adds a ton of flavor. And if you wanted to use a different nut, that's totally fine. Anything from sliced
almonds, to pine nuts, or really whatever kind of
nut you want to use in there. But toasting takes them to
the next level with flavor. And then of course the sweet potatoes. And adding that little bit of maple syrup to the sweet potatoes just
intensifies their sweetness and really brings out their flavor. Roasting sweet potatoes is my
favorite way to prepare them, and putting them in a
salad is genius. (laughs) And then there's the cranberries. And if you want to be fancy or say, if you're making this for Thanksgiving, like we did last year, we
totally used pomegranate seeds. Those are such a treat
when they're in season, because they give you like
this burst of juiciness in your mouth and it
is just holiday worthy. You know what I'm saying? (laughs) And then the goat cheese
is so creamy and delicious. If you've never tried
goat cheese, I don't know. I hope you're inspired
to try it in this salad. It is just a winning combination
of flavors and textures. I'm sure this is going to
be a new favorite for you. And I'm going to go eat this, 'cause it's just really good
and I'm hungry. (laughs) So we'll see you in our next video. - [Man] Okay, it's recording. - You want the wind? - It's here.
- Okay. (upbeat music)
