Food Blogs and Kale

During a long and lovely chat with my sister Claire last night, she told me that on a list of the best foods, the number one healthiest ingredient you can put into your mouth is Kale.  The formidable, tough, weedy, crunchy but very lovely and sometimes purple-hued KALE.  To give you an idea of how hardcore of a veggie it is, it's Hilary's favorite food.  To give you an idea of Hilary, well, lets just say that Hil would rather eat raw cremini mushrooms than dessert.  So.  I believe I have made my point.

Therefore I would like to devote today's post to kale, and the multitude of-- Ok, two, that I know of-- ways that you can transform it so that it is edible and even yummy.  But first I will make a brief detour to another topic.  Why?  Because I can.  

Usually, when I sit down to write a post I try and get some research in first.  My research is of your standard, Google-variety.  I don't have a whole lot of cookbooks, and plus I'm lazy.  So but whenever I type in a foodstuff into the little google searchbox, I'm always rewarded with the discovery of at least one new food blog.  Today I found two terrific ones.  One of them, 101cookbooks.com, has a list of recipes by ingredient along the left side, so I checked out the Kale link (here it is).  It looks pretty good-- there are about six or seven recipes using the intimidating green-- and two of them that looked especially lovely are the Chickpea HotPot, and Kale & Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes.  Now this woman, I'm led to believe, has got a LOT of cookbooks, unlike me, so maybe her recipes are really good.

As I continued to skim the site, I came across the inevitable Food Blogs link, and browsed it for catchiest title.  cook eat FRET.  Perfect.  I clicked on it.  This blog is great-- the author is wry and funny and fully admits that all cooks are cooking to impress that one mythic cook in her mind.  In cook eat FRET, the imaginary cook-judge was a toss-up between Gabrielle Hamilton and Mario Batale.  I don't know who mine would be.  The mushroom-munching Hilary, perhaps.  So thanks to my two new food blog finds, forever immortalized in the column on the right, I will now be re-titling that column.  It is no longer called Food Blogs I Like, but will now given the heading that is far more appropriate... (see right).

Ok.  Kale.  The simplest way to cook it is in a saute pan.  This is perhaps the best way to introduce yourself to the vegetable if you are unacquainted.  You will get to know the flavors and textures that kale is capable of-- to know it in its pure form, you can put it to good, creative use in the future.  So, chop a couple or three cloves of garlic per head of kale and toss the garlic into your pan with a good smattering of olive oil.  While the garlic sits in heat just high enough to sizzle SLIGHTLY (garlic burns all too easily, so watch it), chop your kale into ribbons.  Some people like to chop the stems up and toss them in too, but don't pressure yourself the first time around.  After the garlic has sizzled for a minute or two, toss the kale in and stir till its coated with the garlicky oil.  Cover.  Come back in five minutes or so, and stir it till its tender.  Now, a word.  Kale will not become as tender as spinach.  It'll still be crunchy and will take several more chews than you might be used to (think steak, here).  This will grow on you, I promise.  Soon you'll feel like Popeye, after he has just guzzled a can of spinach.

Next recipe.  This is for a Kale Pesto, and its lovely.  It reuses the water the kale is steamed in for the pasta too, so you don't waste any of the plant's nutrients.

-1 bunch, kale, washed, drained, de-stemmed

-8 oz. penne pasta

-1/2 c. whole almonds, toasted (dry in a small skillet till aromatic and slightly darker in color)

-as many cloves of garlic as you can stand (it will be essentially raw)

-1/4 c. Parmesan, plus more for garnish

-1/2 tsp. salt, 1/8 tsp. salt

-2 Tbsp. evoo, 1 tsp. evoo

-juice of 2 lemons

-1-19oz. can cannellini or Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained

-1/4-1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

-s&p

1.  Steam kale over 2 quarts of boiling water for 5-7 minutes, till tender.  Transfer with a spoon or tongs to a colander to drain.  Don't toss the water, but boil your pasta in it until al dente.  Now you can drain.  (Hell, see if you can use the water one more time-- let it cool and water your garden with it.) 

2.  Chop your almonds in a blender or food processor until well-chopped (but not a butter).  Add garlic, cheese, 1/2 t. salt, and juice of one lemon.  If you haven't already done so, cut the thicker parts of the stems from the actual leaves of kale, leaving leaves with slits halfway up the middle.  Chop roughly.  Process till all ingredients are finely minced.  If the ingredients are too dry for the blender to process, and even if they aren't, add 2 T. oil till paste forms.  If still too dry, add another T. oil, and after that a little water or milk (spoken by the person with a very crappy blender).

3.  In a medium bowl toss your beans with juice of the other lemon and 1/8 tsp. salt.  (Don't forget to rinse beans first Claire, or else they taste like can.)

4.  In a large skillet or pot, fry your red pepper flakes in 1 tsp. evoo for a minute.  Add the pesto.  If still too thick, add a little water. Stir till hot, then add pasta and beans and toss gently till heated through.  Garnish with parmesan, salt and pepper.

Unless you've got a couple football playing teenage sons, you'll definitely have leftovers for lunch the next day.