Tough-guy kale

November 10, 3:09 PMFood ExaminerEric Burkett

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Food Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Kale: As healthy as it is sturdy

Come on, who hasn’t been intimidated by kale? It sits there in the vegetable bin at the market just daring you to make the first move, all tough guy and gruff, threatening small children with its seriously-good-for-you image; but kale has a tender side, too.

Make no mistake, kale is good for you. Just one cup of the sturdy green, eaten raw (which is a little misleading because kale really isn’t one of those vegetables that taste better raw) contains enough nutrients to knock over a horse with a little left over. Being a member of the Brassica olerace family – or cabbage clan – it has great anti-cancer properties.

Most important, of course, is that it tastes good. Use it as an addition in soups such minestrone or any soup in which you want to add greens, sauté it with sauerkraut, or cook it in the traditional Southern way of cooking greens with a generous chunk of fatback or a ham hock and stock and let it simmer until its meltingly tender. Add it to a pot of white beans with garlic, just as the beans are almost ready, and serve it up with thick slices of crusty bread. Or, best of all, make a big pot of caldo verde.

Like any vegetable, there are plenty of variations. The varieties you typically see in the markets are blue and Scotch kales (collard greens are a type of kale, too) but don’t ignore the beautifully dark and notably more tender Lacinato, which is also called Tuscan, black, and Dino kale. Tender is a relative term however – it’s not for nothing writer Jack Bishop tells his readers, when it comes time to trim the vegetable, “Use the knife as if it were a machete”.

When you’ve finally fought it down and have it under your knife, trim away the very tough stem by running your knife along its edge, separating the leafy portion. I can’t think of a good use for the stems, so I toss them into the compost bin.

Last week at work, I found myself faced with a case of blue kale and a strong need to produce a side dish for meatloaf. I looked to my Southern roots for inspiration:

2 bunches of kale, stems removed and leafy greens cut into julienne
2 medium turnips, cut into ½ dice (if they’re young turnips, leave the skins on)
1 onion, diced
2 tbsp olive oil or, better yet, bacon grease
½ cup chicken stock
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

- Heat the fat in a large skillet and add the onions and turnips, sautéing them until the turnips are almost tender and a little browned along the edges.
- Add the kale, stirring so that the greens are completely coated in the fat and begin to wilt. Now, add the stock slowly so that it doesn’t cool the pan. Continue stirring the greens and turnips until the kale is bright green and thoroughly wilted.
- Sprinkle with the vinegar and salt and pepper and serve.