Saturday, October 3, 2009

VeganMofo: 3.5 Ways of Kale

Warning: This next post contains Kale, and lots of it. Junk Food Vegans, please avert your eyes.

Braised Kale.
I recently became the benefactor of a large sum of gloriously grown kale. Look at that beauty!
I really, really love kale. If I had to choose one vegetable, well my first reaction would be to choose potatoes, because who doesn't love potatoes? But if I had considered the question, my real answer would be kale. Because Kale, my friends is a nutritional power house. One could live off kale, but one might not be able to live off potatoes (although I might die trying).

Kale is not only nutritious but it is damn tasty too. I could kale all on its own, as its own meal. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Or four coursed dinner as the case may be.

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So what do to do with all that kale? For starters I decided to simply throw a butt load of it into the pan and fry it. I figured in honour of mofo I would share my three favourite ways to eat kale.

Basic steps


Needed:
-Lots of kale, one giant bunch
-Garlic
-Earth balance or olive oil
-pepper
-sesame seeds
-vegetable broth (opt)

The process is simple, wash and cut your kale, be sure to chop the stems extra finely. And heat your pan with some eb or olive oil. Now's the time to add your garlic and cook until fragrant.

Once heated, add your stems and fry until tender and little bits of browning become evident.

Now it's time to add your leaves in batches, it may look like alot but it'll all cook down. They will be releasing a lot of water, so watch for steam and splatter.

As your stirring, I normally add some vegetable broth to keep things from sticking. Remember to keep stirring and feel free to grind some pepper into the dish.

Once the greens are done to your own likeness (I like to get them a little charred and browned in spots), you can toss in some sesame seeds.

Now comes the hard part, it is time to choose your flavour.

There's the Classic:
-Extra glob of Earth Balance, course sea salt, fresh pepper and nooch.
Classic Kale

Or the Nooch classic
More nooch!
PICT0051

Lemon
Lemon kale
Similar to the classic, with the addition of extra salt and lemon for that salty tangy. So good.

Dressed Kale

Dressed Kale
Or creamy kale, just involves the addition of goddess dressing for a richer and more complex flavour. Really you could use any dressing you like, just be sure to add a pinch of nooch for good measure.

Because I find it so hard to choose, I had all three. And that was only one bunch of kale! I have 5 more, so let me hear all your favourite uses and you will be seeing me put this stuff to good use so stay tuned!

**Note: The picture of my kale haul was taken AFTER I ate this meal of 3.5 ways of kale.

2 comments:

laura said...

mmmm, i love kale! well, and most greens actually. i bought a bunch at the store yesterday that will turn into a lovely raw kale salad.

B.A.D. said...

Yum that sounds greats! What recipe do you use?