Wednesday, February 16, 2011

I think you'll love kale

A little while back, I shared a list of ten super foods and number 9 was kale. It wasn't until recently that I discovered how much I loved kale - for the longest time I just lumped it in with all the other dark green leafy vegetables that can be a little, well, strongly flavoured. I recently read an article from a like-minded individual who said if you like spinach (and I do) you will like kale because it isn't bitter at all, but sweet and mild. You don't even need to load it up with butter, bacon or garlic. It is lovely (yes, I used the word lovely) on its own or added to other dishes. Lately I have been adding it to soups and stews and sauteing it quickly before using it to top a baked potato. Favourite new use? Julienned and layered between roasted tomatoes and shredded mozzarella on a thin crust pizza.

Sorry - do I need to mention again that it is a full-out, cape wearing anti-cancer super-veg? Give it a shot and start adding it to your regular vegetable rotation (it kicks zucchini's butt).
  1.  365 Days of Kale is the blog of Diana Dyer, wife, mom, dietitian and cancer survivor. She knows kale. Recently, she was asked what her favourite recipes were and these are the ones she makes again and again: Garlic Kale Sweet Potato Soup, Kale Chips, Spicy Lentil Kale Sweet Potato Patties, Kale 3-Bean Salad and Garlic Scape Kale Pesto
  2. I've written about kale chips before, and included Diana's above, but next I'm going to try this recipe from Chow - lemon kale chips.
  3. Kale and apple salad with molasses vinaigrette and lovely sugared pecans. How pretty is that? I can't do pecans though (nut allergy) but I may try it with sugared pumpkin seeds. Won't have the lovely contrast that the shiny, caramel-brown nuts would against the dark green kale, but it beats anaphylaxis shock. From Design Sponge.
  4. Roasted kale greens tossed with a champagne vinaigrette. An elegant side to salmon or stuffed chicken breasts. From the Baltimore Chop.
  5. Here's a great collection from Canadian Living magazine, including: lemon kale with chickpeas, kale and pancetta quiche,  and gemelli with kale, sage and potatoes.
  6. Kale and cheddar gratin, looks yummy and is nice way to make kale more accessible for people who are still getting used to the idea of eating greens! Plus, as an added bonus it has a hit of turmeric in it - feel free to increase it.
Have a great day!

3 comments:

  1. Do you ever eat gai lan? I really like it and have been eating it this winter.

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  2. I haven't eaten it in years but I like it. I have no excuses either because it is in almost every market I shop at. Got a favourite way of doing it?

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  3. with a bit of oyster sauce and stock, blanch the gai lan in salted water with tsp baking soda and top with sauce yumm do not over cook or seriously mushy leaves make it almost inedible.

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