3 minute read
Eat Your Kale
WEATHER PERMITTING EAT your KALE
by JUDITH MARA
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TEN YEARS AGO you never heard much about kale. Yes, it was chopped and tossed into some Asian dishes, soups and sautéed greens, but I for one certainly didn’t know it was kale. And it was not something mothers nagged kids into eating by saying, eat your kale, it will make you big and strong. Actually, the first time I recall recognizing kale, it was planted next to fall mums in a flower box. Now kale is loved, revered and cooked in every conceivable way. Scores of American chefs, bloggers, farmers, cooks and health gurus have turned us into believers, making kale almost as common as lettuce. Kale, the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anticholesterol superfood is everything we want in a vegetable. Plus, it tastes good.
when raw and a gentle cabbage taste when cooked, kale is versatile and easy to prepare, which is possibly another reason it has taken off to the extreme. When you see kale piled high next to squash and pumpkins, it is prime kale harvest time at the farmer’s markets and green grocers. Once the frost hits, kale still in the ground gets sweeter and milder. If you are a firsttime kale eater, this is the time to try it. Kale is a humble vegetable that is related to cabbage and broccoli. It’s not like heirloom tomatoes (yet), where there are suddenly a multitude of varieties with cute names. There are only a few varieties of kale readily available. Most common is curly kale (aka green kale), which you can find almost anywhere vegetables are sold. It is a sturdy variety with the strongest flavor when cooked. Our favorite is the tender cavolo nero, or Tuscan kale (aka dinosaur kale, black kale). Its long, slender, green-black leaves are more delicate and have less bitterness than curly kale. At farmer’s markets you can also find Siberian or Russian kale, which (no surprise) is the most cold hardy and has a cabbage-pepper taste. Flowering kale (aka Kamome kale) is very pretty with white to purple center leaves. While it is edible, it is also very bitter and is best used as a floral accent.
SOME KALE BASICS
When buying kale, choose bunches with small to medium, deep green leaves, because small leaves will be more tender and mildertasting than large ones. Store in a plastic bag in the coldest part of the fridge for three to five days. Don’t wash until ready to use. Before cooking, strip the center ribs out of the larger leaves and discard. Wash leaves thoroughly in cold water and then pat dry. Tear into pieces, cut into strips or chop as directed by your recipe. Kale also freezes well. Strip the center ribs out of the larger leaves and discard. Cut the leaves crosswise into strips and blanch in salted boiling water for 30 seconds. Drain and refresh in cold water, then squeeze the water out and freeze the leaves in quart-size freezer bags.
KALE IN THE KITCHEN
There are copious amounts of kale recipes on the web, and hundreds of ways to search for them. Kale is one of the few leafy greens that you can eat raw, sautéed, steamed, boiled, baked, fried and even drink in a smoothie. It’s often served in soups, pasta, gratins and stews. It can be added to eggs, pizza, casseroles, salads, potatoes, quiche, mac and cheese and stir-fries, and it’s a perfect choice when trying to sneak a little something healthy into a dish. And we want to thank whoever came up with making kale chips.
kale focused recipes
