Week 5: Pick-Up Day & Chopped Kale & Beet Salad

As often happens after a night of sheer culinary debauchery, we awoke at 6:30 Saturday morning to revved-up children and bloated digestive tracks. Horrified by the pizza-infused passion that had come over us the night before, we were ready to take a vow of food purity for the upcoming week. Thanks to Farmer Gene, this vow was much more of a pleasure than a pain. Along with the magnificent sight of kale, turnips, cauliflower, broccoli, romaine and cilantro in this week's delivery, we were thrilled by the debut of dark green chard and enchanting red beets.

With purity in mind, I spent an hour researching new kale recipes and found one for chopped kale salad that got 64 rave reviews on Epicurious. I didn't know there were 64 people in the world who had dared to taste kale, so I figured I'd found a winner. To add a twist, we decided to top the salad with roasted beets. I'll admit that I couldn't imagine why raw kale salad should taste good, but I trusted my source and was intrigued by the fact that the recipe called for ricotta salata –– a hard version of ricotta cheese. So with all of the ingredients piled high, we dove into dinner. Initially, I thought that the 64 zealous reviewers had been paid for their support, but with each bite, the salad seemed to taste better. While I've been a believer in the magic of the beet since reading Tom Robbins' Jitterbug Perfume, this salad bewitched even me. The beets, kale and ricotta proved such a killer combination that before we knew it, our digestive drama was but a distant memory. Next time you need to purify your palate, you can find the recipe here. But remember, the beets may beguile you.