Okay, I’m afraid I just have never been able to work myself to such a high pitch of foodie/health nut righteousness that I could say I actually LIKE kale…before this.
The other day SDXB and I visited a Whole Foods, where I found a bunch of beautiful purple curly leaves. No clue on the bin as to what it was or how much it cost — your whole paycheck, presumably. What the heck. It was so gorgeous I figured if I hated it I could put the rest of it in a flower vase and set it in the middle of the dining table.
Turns out the stuff is a variety of curly kale. And, properly prepared…boy is it good to eat!!!!!!!
The following is a recipe I knocked off from the 1970s-vintage Laurel’s Kitchen and then perverted to my carnivorous tastes.
• Head of kale, chopped
• Small onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped or minced
• Enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a pan
• About a teaspoon, give or take, of cumin
• 1 cup, give or take, high-quality boxed or canned chopped tomatoes
• A tablespoon, give or take, of tomato paste
• A fistful or two of frozen peas
• A small amount of cooked or raw meat (grilled chicken or steak, raw steak, whatEVER), optional
• If you choose raw beef, possibly a wee bit of Worcester or soy sauce, depending on availability and mood
• Maybe a dash of cheap red wine, if you have any around
• Maybe some pine nuts, if you have any of those.
• Or…who knows. Maybe a few roasted salted pistachios. Or not.
To do this in a single pan, get out a Dutch-oven size pot and place inside of it one of those gadgets to hold veggies while they’re being steamed. Failing that, try a colander or sieve that will fit inside the pot when the lid is on tightly.
Slice the meat, if you’re using it, into 1/4-inch slices or so. If you’re using raw beef, sprinkle some Worcestershire or soy sauce over it and let it sit while you start cooking the kale.
Place enough water in the pot to come up to the bottom of whatever steaming gadget you’re using. Bring the water to a boil; then turn the heat down to about medium or medium-high. Fill the steaming gadget with the chopped kale; cover the pan and allow to steam for eight or ten minutes, or until the kale is soft but not limp.
Once you reach this stage, lift the steamer out and set it in a clean kitchen sink. Pour off the water and wipe the inside of the pan dry.
Place the pan back on the heat and pour in a little olive oil, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Cook the chopped onion in it until the onion is transparent and on the verge of browning. Add cumin and stir in well as the onion is cooking.
If you’re using any raw meat, stir-fry that into the onions as they’re reaching the browning stage. If you have leftover cooked meat, you can toss that in at any time during the cooking process.
Add the garlic and stir to start cooking. After another minute or two, add the canned or boxed tomatoes and the tomato paste. Stir these into the onions and garlic. If you’re using leftover cooked meat, add that now. Add a splash of red wine, if desired. Stir and allow to cook for another couple of minutes.
Stir in the steamed kale. Add the frozen peas and stir those in. Cook until the peas are warmed through but still bright green. Add pine nuts or pistachios, as available.
And there you have it!
Very good with Parmesan, or topped with a dollop of yogurt.
Image: Curly kale. Rasbak. GNU Free Documentation License.
My wife just made this awesome soup that had kale, sausage, carrots, potatoes, beans and a few other ingredients and it was awesome. They say kale is one of those food trends that will likely not last, but it’s honestly better than spinach in my book!
That sounds WONDERFUL! I definitely will try that next.
Also from Laurel’s Kitchen, I believe, is the suggestion that you use kale in place of cabbage for that Irish dish called colcannon. (Really just mashed potatoes with cooked cabbage or kale stirred in.)
We had several kale plants in summer 2013 that produced prodigiously. Nearly nonstop light plus cool temps = lotsa greens, no bolting. The dehydrator really earned its keep that year. Although we put the dried stuff in soup, stew, curry, stroganoff and even scrambled eggs, we’re STILL EATING the 2013 crop.
Getting closer to finishing it, so we’ve decided we’ll put in more kale this year. But we’re also going to eat more of it fresh and take some to the soup kitchen so we don’t end up buried in the stuff.
Oh, and we do a soup like Money Beagle’s wife does. Pretty simple: Saute onions until soft and sweet; add diced sausage and cook until it crisps up; pour in broth or stock* and seasonings, carrots and potatoes and cook until done; toward the end throw in some dried kale.
*Our stock tends to come from kitchen scraps:
http://donnafreedman.com/2014/10/10/boiling-bag/
Yes, I saw that colcannon recipe!! Didn’t have enough potatoes in the house…and the tomatoes sounded mighty good.
nooo bolting to seed? mirabilis!!!! Have you tried growing chard, too?
It grows here all winter — not damaged by light frost — and it’ll hang into there without bolting after the weather starts to get pretty darned warm. Lettuce is gone at the first sign of an 80-degree day, but the chard will last for awhile even after the weather gets up around 95 to 100. I’ll bet the stuff would be beside itself with joy where you live!
It seems like kale is in EVERYTHING here. Seriously, any place that has a salad bar has at least 3 kale-based salads. I do like to make a simple kale salad (with a oil/vinegar dressing and some raisins, at least) because it actually gets better after a few hours in the fridge and lasts for at least two days. That way I can make a batch and eat it for several meals. No lettuce could hold up as well.
Sautee 1 diced up onion and abut 10 pieces of crushed garlic in some oil, add 1 pound kale (add kale as it wilts if you don’t have a large enough pan) and sauté until soft to your liking; slice and add 4or 5 previously boiled and peeled potatoes, add some cream (or milk, or cream cheese, or sour cream, or yoghurt) stir it good and let flavors mingle over low heat. Once plated up season with a sprinkle of sea salt crystal salt…it tastes even better on day 2