Skip to main content
Epicurious

Massaged Kale With Tomatoes, Creamed Mozzarella, and Wild Rice

By Abra Berens

4.4

(24)

Kale and tomato salad with creamed mozzarella on a platter with a serving spoon.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell

This recipe calls for wild rice but substitute any cooked grain—especially any random grains that are in the back of your fridge. If you do use wild rice, you don’t need to soak the grains overnight, but soaked rice will cook much more quickly and will “pop” when cooked, improving the texture. Unsoaked rice will take significantly longer than white rice to cook, so plan accordingly.

Cooks' Note

The amount of time it takes to tenderize raw greens will vary depending on the age of the plant. The tougher the leaves, the longer it will take. Along the way, taste an individual leaf—once it is easily chewable, you’re done.

Ingredients

1 small onion, cut into thin slices
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup wild rice, soaked overnight in 4 cups water
1 bunch (4 cups) kale, midribs stripped, well dried and cut into 1/4-inch ribbons
1 ball (8 oz) fresh mozzarella
1/4 cup sour cream
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat a glug of olive oil. Sweat the onion and garlic with the salt until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the white wine and reduce by half. Add the wild rice and the soaking liquid and cook until tender, about 45 minutes.

    Step 2

    In a mixing bowl, sprinkle the kale with a pinch of salt. Massage the kale until it is dark green, limp, and tender in mouthfeel.

    Step 3

    Tear the mozzarella into rough chunks. Combine with the sour cream, lemon zest and juice, a good pinch of salt, and a couple of grinds of black pepper.

    Step 4

    When the wild rice is cooked, drain any residual liquid and let cool.

    Step 5

    Toss the tomatoes, kale, and wild rice together with a couple glugs of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Dot with the creamed mozzarella and serve.

TagsSaladKaleLeafy GreensVegetableWild RiceRiceRice & GrainsMozzarellaCheeseDairyCherry TomatoTomatoMainSideBrunchLunchDinnerGluten FreeNut FreeVegetarianEasyWeeknight MealsSimmerSummerEpicurious

See Related Recipes and Cooking Tips

Read More
Smothered Italian Sausage
This is what I call a fridge-eater recipe. The key here is getting a nice sear on the sausage and cooking the tomato down until it coats the sausage and vegetables well.
Creamy Fondue Beans
All the cozy vibes of the classic gooey-cheesy dish, made into a 20-minute meal.
Sofrito Bolognese
An ex-boyfriend’s mom—who emigrated from Colombia—made the best meat sauce—she would fry sofrito for the base and simply add cooked ground beef, sazón, and jarred tomato sauce. My version is a bit more bougie—it calls for caramelized tomato paste and white wine—but the result is just as good.
Fufu
Fufu is a dish that has been passed down through many generations and is seen as a symbol of Ghanaian identity and heritage. Making fufu traditionally is a very laborious task; this recipe mimics some of that hard work but with a few home-cook hacks that make for a far easier time.
Pickle Coleslaw
Creamy, vinegary, and with lots of fresh dill.
Vodka Gochujang Pasta
This pasta has some really big energy about it. It’s so extra, it’s the type of thing you should be eating in your bikini while drinking a magnum of rosé, not in Hebden Bridge (or wherever you live), but on a beach on Mykonos.
Spicy Carrot Rigatoni
Hailee Catalano transforms humble carrots into a beautifully creamy pasta sauce.
Crispy Oyster Mushroom Skewers With Bok Choy Salad
Oyster mushrooms are a strong all-rounder in the kitchen, seeming to straddle both plant and meat worlds in what they look and taste like when cooked. Here they’re coated in a marinade my mother used to use when cooking Chinese food at home—honey, soy, garlic and ginger—and roasted until golden, crisp, and juicy.