Kale, Roasted Celery Root, Deviled Eggs and Spiced Almond Salad


This recipe is not for the faint-hearted. The ingredients list is a bit of a doozy, however, you probably already have most of it on hand and it's pretty easy to multitask during most of the steps.

I saw this recipe on Food Network while binge watching Southern At Heart which features a winner of Food Network Star. Dave and I don't have cable, so we spend a lot of time watching free shows on the internet -- Food Network has a pretty good selection and they rotate their video options. Although I wasn't initially a fan of Damaris, the star of Southern At Heart, while she was on Food Network 
Star, this recipe really intrigued me.


Recipe slightly adapted from Damaris Phillips at Food Network

Ingredients:
Garlic Confit
-2 whole heads garlic
-3 cups vegetable oil

Deviled Eggs
-6 eggs 
-1 tablespoon Miracle Whip
-1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
-1 teaspoon garlic confit oil, for drizzling
-paprika

Spiced Almonds
-1 egg white
-1 tablespoon brown sugar
-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
-Salt and freshly ground black pepper
-1 cup blanched and slivered almonds

Roasted Celery Root
-1 large celery root, cut into large dice (about 2 1/2 cups)
-Cooking Spray
-Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Creamy Garlic Vinaigrette
-1/3 cup honey
-2 tablespoons garlic confit
-2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
-2 egg yolks
-Salt and freshly ground black pepper
-1/2 cup sherry
-1/2 cup white vinegar
-2 cups garlic confit oil
-10 ounces kale


Garlic Confit: Cut the tops off of the garlic heads, leaving the root ends intact. Add to a small saucepan and cover with the vegetable oil. Cook over medium-low heat for about 45 minutes (do not simmer!). Remove the garlic heads from the oil and allow to cool. Remove the cloves and squeeze out the cloves from their skins and mash slightly; set aside. Reserve the oil.

Deviled Eggs: It is easier to make deviled eggs with older eggs, not farm fresh eggs. Put the eggs in a saucepan and cover with water. Put the saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Once at a boil, cover with a lid, turn the heat off and let the eggs sit for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes rinse the eggs in cold water until completely cooled.

Peel the eggs and cut lengthwise. Scoop out the yolks and mash the yolks in a bowl with the Miracle Whip and mustard. Put the filling into a ziplock bag and squeeze the filling into one corner, snip the corner of the bag with a piece of scissors and pipe the filling into the eggs. Drizzle each egg with a little garlic oil. I like to sprinkle mine with a little paprika because that's how my mom has always made deviled eggs.

Spiced Almonds: Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

In a bowl, whisk the egg white until thick and frothy. Add the sugar, cayenne, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper and stir to combine. Add the almonds and coat with the egg white mixture.

Use a slotted spoon to transfer the nuts to a foil lined baking sheet. If you have a little trouble with this, it's okay, just make sure to spray the foil with cooking spray to prevent the almonds from sticking. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, make sure to stir them a few times while they are cooking, so that they bake evenly.

Celery Root: The only celery root which was available at our grocery store was massive. Produce was kind enough to cut one down for us, because we didn't need two or more pounds of celery root, plus it was a little expensive.

Raise the oven temperature to 400 degrees F.

Place the celery root on a foil liked baking sheet, spray with cooking spray and roast for 20 minutes. You can toss the celery root in oil if you like, but there was already a lot of oil in this recipe and I'm trying to be calorie conscious.

Creamy Garlic Vinaigrette: In a food processor, add the honey, garlic confit, mustard and egg yolks and pulse to combine. Next, add the sherry vinegar and pulse to combine. Finally, turn the food processor to low and slowly drizzle in the rest of the garlic confit. Taste and add salt and pepper to the desired level of seasoning.


Our garlic confit and deviled eggs were cooked earlier in the day (prior to making dinner). I used the oven and our toaster oven at the same time to speed up the process of the spiced almonds and roasted celery root. While I filled the deviled eggs, Dave prepared the vinaigrette. Although there are a lot of steps, it's manageable with good organization. 


For each salad, I added roasted celery root and spiced almonds with deviled eggs on the side. We both like varying amounts of dressing, I enjoyed my salad with one tablespoon of dressing drizzle over it, Dave had a little bit more of the vinaigrette on his.




Overall I was very happy with how this turned out. I really enjoy deviled eggs, so I was happy to have them as an accompaniment to a salad. The celery root has a light celery flavor and a much better texture than celery (I like the crunch, not the stringiness). The spiced almonds were incredibly addictive, I might make some more of those just to snack on later -- they added sweetness and a little zing to the salad. I liked the creamy garlic vinaigrette  as well, it was full of flavor, which was nice because I like to lightly dress my salads, not drown them in dressing. 

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