Kale, or what
to do with this leafy green vegetable
I like to have food adventures, and
for many years the idea of food adventures meant trying new restaurants, or
learning to cook meals from other cultures. This time around I plan to learn how to cook and enjoy
different vegetables. There are so
many plants out there that I have never cooked with, and that I really don’t
know much about. This week I want
to learn more about Kale.
Kale is a leafy green vegetable
related to the other greens, such as collards and spinach. It is actually very pretty, dark in
color and crisp, with sharp little wrinkles at the tips of the leaves. One cup of this leafy vegetable is packed
full of nutrients such as calcium, fiber, vitamin C and vitamin K. It has cancer-fighting antioxidants and
is rich in lutein and zeaxanthin, which help with eye health.
One website recommended adding kale
to soups, stews, stir fry meals, salads and egg dishes. I even found a recipe for kale chips,
and that intrigued me, so chips from kale was the first recipe I tried.
Put chopped kale in a bowl, and mix
with olive oil, lemon juice and salt.
Mix, and then place in oven on parchment paper and heat at 350 for 10 –
15 minutes. I mixed the
ingredients, 1 tsp of the lemon and oil, and a pinch of salt, then spread the
leaves on a casserole dish with tin foil because, as usual, I didn’t have the
parchment paper. After 15 minutes
the leaves were still soggy and gross looking, so I heated them for another 7-8
minutes. I pulled the leaves off
of the tin foil and let them dry on a cookie rack. I was quite surprised when I tasted them, they were
good! Really good! They make a good snack, but a better
addition to a salad, as they are slightly crunchy and very lemony tasting.
The next evening my husband cooked
an onion in olive oil, added kale and mushrooms and stirred them around a
little. I drizzled a little bit of
my lemon over the mix, he took it off the heat and we ate that with our supper
of leftovers. Again the meal was
pretty good. Next time we will
take time to cut off all the thick stems, that part was too bitter and
strong. Also some other flavor is
needed, I poured some vinegar over the mix like I would over collard greens.
Today I searched the internet and
found 5 great recipes. I will try
them and post here later in the week.
Happy eating!
No comments:
Post a Comment