SUMMER SALAD OF BABY KALE, WHEAT BERRIES, PICKLED ONIONS & BLUEBERRIES

If you know what's good for you and have 5 minutes, you'll pickle onions in whatever salt, vinegar, sugar and spice solution you can come up -- stir up this witch's brew and toss lingering vegetables and sharp alliums like garlic, shallot, scallions and onions of all types. In about 24 hours, their temperament will have been smoothed out a bit, their bite toned and a plucky transformation rendered. with each day that goes by, the mellowness takes hold and the siren call to the pickle jar is strong as hell. By the end of the week, I'm eating fistfuls of the stuff, my breath be damned. They're delicious on their own, tucked into a sandwich, atop any manner of tacos. They are particularly vibrant when met with grains, greens, a smidge of cheese and a bit of fruit -- this salad is near perfect.

The pickled doo das are good in so many things, but this salad is the type of dish you want to reach for all summer, when only a cool room and a gigantic bowl of flavor will do. It's hard not to shovel this type of thing in, it's addicting with all the pops of nubby wheat berries and succulent juice of a sun-ripened blueberry. the shards of salty ricotta salata are divine for a bit of creamy fat, part of the glue that makes you feel full. Lastly the baby kale leaves and watermelon radish, sliced ever so thin, are a real celebration of the season -- the peak flavors just jumping into every dinner (rightly so).

This salad is a template, a riff on a riff that came before it, so don't feel beholden -- just unlocked and inspired enough to move the green items around in t the fridge, us up bits and bobs, toss the whole thing in olive oil and vinegar and be done with it. Trust me, you'll be very pleased.

Salad of Baby Kale, Wheat Berries, Pickled Onions & Blueberries 
serves 2 

1 bunch baby kale
1 cup blueberries
1 cup cooked wheat berries
1 watermelon radish, sliced thin
1 handful pickled onions
1/4 cup ricotta salata, sliced thin
olive oil and vinegar to taste
salt and pepper

On a large platter, scatter the baby kale, blueberries, wheat berries and watermelon radish. Toss with olive oil and vinegar, top with cheese and dot with pickled onions. Serve immediately with a glass of Rose wine and crusty bread.