I don’t know where I got the inspiration for this recipe because I’ve never tasted anything quite like it, but it’s now become a staple at our house. A couple of tips: use the darker roasted buckwheat groats, not the raw, light-colored one, if you want to have that distinctive taste buckwheat is known for. Also, don’t even think of omitting the rocca here and replacing it with more kale. Salads made only with kale in my opinion tend to be on the dry side no matter how much you massage the leaves with oil. Rocca, on the other hand, will absorb some of the dressing and make it a lot tastier. You could however, replace pecorino with a good parmesan or even a sharp cheddar, I’ve tried them both successfully. As for macademia, you could swap them with pine nuts if you don’t have any on hand.
Ingredients
- 1 cup of buckwheat groat, uncooked
- 5 medjool dates, pitted and cut into slivers/julienne
- a pinch of smoked paprika
- 1/2 cup of macademia nuts (you can toast these but all nuts are healthier if you eat them raw)
- 2/3 cup of pecorino shavings
- 4 cups of kale, finely cut
- 4 cups of rocca leaves, stems discarded
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- juice of 1 1/2 organic lemon
- Pink Himalayan salt, pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Cook buckwheat as per package directions. Strain and let cool.
- While buckwheat is cooking, sprinkle dates with smoked paprika and place in 300F oven for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
- Mix the kale leaves, rocca, nuts, pecorino together with the buckwheats and dates.
- Mix olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a bowl
- When you are ready to serve, toss in the dressing so as to coat the entire salad.