Friday, June 3, 2011

Kale Two Ways



Kale. I have never cooked it before in my life because I was intimidated. Now that Trader Joe's offers it prewashed, stemmed and chopped I thought I'd give it a try. My sister has been raving for months how amazing and healthy baked kale chips are. In the supermarket kale chips are around $6 per bag so the following recipe will save you a few bucks. I also tried a more traditional sauteed kale which turned out so good I downed it in about 3 minutes flat. The chips? Well, the chips didn't even stand a chance. They were gone before they even had a chance to cool. Give these recipes a shot; if you've never tried cooking kale before I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Sauteed Kale

1/2 # kale, stems and leaves chopped coarsly
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
1 cup heirloom baby tomatoes, optional

Heat olive oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes (adding the pepper while the oil heats brings out more flavor and heat from your spice). Raise heat to medium high, add kale and water and toss to coat evenly. Cover with lid and cook for about 3 minutes. Remove lid, add tomatoes and vinegar and stir until tender and all the liquid has evaporated. Season with salt and black pepper.

Baked Kale Chips
1/2# kale
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Wash and dry kale, toss in the olive oil, salt and pepper. Lay kale out on lined baking sheets being careful to not overlap the leaves. If the leaves are touching they will steam, not bake. Bake until the edges are just brown about 15 minutes. If you can resist, let cool and enjoy.

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