Seasonal vegetable: with

Seasonal vegetable

By Will Steward, Living Larder

RED RUSSIAN

Red Russian is a heritage kale that dates back to the late 1800s and originates from Siberia. Red Russian is extremely frost hardy and performs late on in winter and in early spring. It has a particularly sweet taste and a much more tender texture than the more commonly grown kale varieties. Red Russian is easily recognised by its red stems and jagged leaves. Over recent years

Red Russian has become widely available in garden centres and nurseries. Whilst young Red Russian makes an excellent baby leaf salad, when left to grow on and given space it rewards with a long-lasting crop.

Red Russian is particularly high in vitamins A and C.

KALE AND ORZO BAKE

Ingredients 150g kale 500ml Milk 12 whole black peppercorns 3 garlic cloves - flattened 200g Orzo (or other similar small pasta) 200g grated parmesan

Method Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 6/200˚C. Bring a large pot of water to the boil, put your kale in the pan and blanch until wilted – a minute or so. Remove the kale from the hot water (keep the water to cook the pasta) and plunge the kale into cold water, drain and try to squeeze out most of the water. In a small pan bring the milk to the boil with the peppercorns, add the garlic and remove from the heat. Boil the orzo in the water you used to cook the kale, until cooked, and then drain. Put the kale, garlic, milk (remember to remove the peppercorns) and parmesan in a blender, whizz until smooth. Stir the kale sauce through the cooked pasta, season well (add more parmesan if you wish) before placing in an oven-proof dish and baking for 20 minutes until browned. Enjoy.

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