Colcannon

Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish. It's a combination of mashed potatos and creamed kale. This recipe comes from the website irelandnow.com. I used the third recipe variation from that webpage, which reads:

Yield: 4 servings. 2 1/2 lbs potatotes (cooked and mashed); 1 c cooked kale (finely chopped); 1 c hot milk (Adrienne's note: I used half and half); 4 chopped scallions (optional); butter. Strip the heads of kale away from the stems and shred them finely. Kale is a tough vegetable which needs to cook for 10-20 minutes depending on its age. Cook as you would any green vegetable in furiously boiling salted water until it is just tender. (Some people add 1/2 tsp baking soda to the water to help keep the kale at its brightest green). Strain it and refresh it with cold water. Drain it thoroughly and squeeze out any excess water. Put the kale in a food processor with the hot milk then blend them into a green soup then mix with the mashed potatoes. Reheat it in the oven until it is very hot.

Kale Salad with Baked Beets, Walnuts, and Creamy Goat Cheese (and Steak!)

This is a hearty, earthy, winter-y salad! It comes from the foodvergnuegen blog. I added leftover flank steak to it. The dressing is garlicky good!

Ingredients:

1 bunch curly k ale (about 6 leaves), stalks removed and torn into pieces

4 small beets, roasted or steamed, peeled and cut into wedges

8 walnut halves, toasted and broken into bits

1-2 oz creamy goat's cheese, cut into bite-sized pieces

handful of assorted sprouts, rinsed (Adrienne's note: Me no likey sprouts. Omit!)

For the dressing:

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 small garlic clove, pressed

1/2 tsp good mustard

1/2 tsp salt

fresh pepper

Directions:

Put all dressing ingredients into a jar with a lid. Close and shake well. Pour over kale, toss, cover, and marinate at room temperature for an hour or longer in the fridge. When you are ready to serve, add beets, sprouts, nuts, and cheese. Enjoy!

Egg White Kale and Bacon Frittata

I made ice cream with six egg yolks, so I had 6 egg whites left over. What to do??? Egg white frittata!! This recipe is adapted from Giada de Laurentiis's egg white frittata with lox and arugula, found here.

Ingredients:

6 egg whites at room temperature (Adrienne's note: Giada uses 8)

1/2 cup heavy cream (Adrienne's note: This ain't no light eggwhite frittata)

1 lemon, zested

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp olive oil (Adrienne's note: I used bacon grease instead)

2 packed cups chiffonaded curly kale (Adrienne's note: Giada uses arugula)

1 clove garlic, minced

4 bacon slices, cut into 1-inch pieces (Adrienne's note: This is my addition to the recipe, in lieu of lox as the protein)

1 onion, diced (Adrienne's note: This is my addition to the recipe)

Directions: (Adrienne's note: This is where what I did diverged a little from what Giada did)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook bacon and remove from pan. Pour out excess bacon fat so only 2 tbsps remain in the pan. In the remaining bacon fat, saute garlic and onion. Add in the kale and saute until wilted, about 5-10 minutes. Put the bacon back into the pan.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggwhites, lemon zest, salt, pepper and the cream. Pour this egg mixture into the pan. Stir to evenly distribute the ingredients, then let the mixture cook undisturbed for 4 minutes. If it's possible, flip the frittata at this point. If no can, no can.

Transfer the saute pan to the oven to bake 10-12 minutes until set.

When you remove the frittata from the oven, it should slide easily off of the pan because of all of the bacon grease. Slice into squares or wedges and serve.

"Popcorn" Kale

For a bowlful of light, airy, crispy kale leaves, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Chiffonade the kale. Lay the kale out onto a foil-lined cookie sheet, spray it lightly with Pam, sprinkle salt all over, toss with hands, then bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Very EASY!

Kale Hummus

WOW! I finally learned how to make hummus. It's so easy! I'm so excited about making more with different ingredients: roasted red pepper, roasted garlic, roasted eggplant, and more! We had this hummus with toasted pita wedges.

This recipe comes from the blog 365 Days of Kale. I guess there are some kale MANIACS out there!

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked garbanzo beans, drained

2 tbsp tahini

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup chiffonaded curly kale

Directions:

Put all ingredients in a food processor except the kale. Pulse until smooth.

Put kale in food processor with hummus-- pulse until kale is chopped into very small green flecks but still with enough texture that it is just slightly lumpy.

Baked Kale Lumpia!

This was an experiment that worked out! And the possibilities are endless for different filling combinations. Next time, we might used glass noodles, chopped peanuts, chicken, etc. We might halve the amount of kale and double the amount of pork, etc. Have fun with this!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup chopped green onions

4 cups chiffonaded curly kale

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 inch ginger nub, minced

1/3 cup shredded carrots

1/4 cup ground pork

1/3 cup chopped onion

2 tbsp shoyu

8 lumpia wrappers

Pam spray

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

In a medium saucepan, pour in 1 tbsp vegetable oil. Sweat the garlic and ginger until fragrant. Add in the onions and stir until translucent. Add in pork and break in and stir until cooked. Add in green onion and shredded carrot. Mix well and season with salt and pepper and 1 tbsp shoyu. Set pork mixture aside.

Wipe out saucepan. Pour in 1 tbsp vegetable oil. Wilt in the 4 cups of chiffonaded kale. This should take about 5-10 minutes. The kale will reduce in volume to about 1 1/2 cups. Season with 1 tbsp shoyu.

Pour pork mixture into kale in the saucepan and mix well. This is the filling mixture. Set aside to cool. Feel free to experiment with different ingredients in different proportions.

While you wait for the filling to cool down, cover a cookie sheet with foil and spray Pam all over the sheet.

Peel off one lumpia wrapper at a time. Place the lumpia wrapper-- oriented like a diamond-- on the table in front of you. Imagine a line dividing the lumpia wrapper in half horizontally. Place 2 tbsp of cooled filling centered a little below this dividing line. Pull up the bottom corner over the filling, fold in the left and right corners, and roll the lumpia up.

Place the filled lumpia on the foil-lined cookie sheet and Pam-spray them liberally on both sides.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through.

The lumpia will be crispy and relatively lower in fat than if fried in oil. Serve with dipping sauce (we are classy mofos and used our extra Jack in the Box sweet and sour sauce).

Coconut, Curry, and Kale

WOW! I can't believe there's a site called ilovekale.com. This should be a great resource for kale ideas. This recipe is as billed-- "Oh nom. Nom. Nom. Nom." I ate it all standing over the kitchen counter. The bonus is I was trying to find a use for the half a can of coconut milk I had left over from last week's coconut curry chicken.

Ingredients:
1 bunch kale
1/2 can coconut milk
curry powder to taste

Directions: Over medium-high heat, add coconut milk, then kale. When kale begins to wilt, sprinkle with curry powder to desired seasoning. Cook until remaining coconut milk is thick.

Kale for Breakfast?!

This is another recipe from ilovekale.com. The kale lover eats this for breakfast, but I think it would taste great on the Thanksgiving table next to a slice of roast turkey breast. In fact, I am having this for lunch tomorrow with chunks of roasted chicken breast thrown into it.

Ingredients:
1 small onion, diced
2 apples, cored and cubed
1 bunch kale, cleaned and chiffonaded
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp Bragg's apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp walnuts, crushed

Directions:
Over medium heat, carmelize onions and apples. (Adrienne's note: I am assuming here that the kale lover poured the tbsp of olive oil into the pan first). Add kale and water. (Adrienne's note: It wasn't clear when I was supposed to add in the apple cider vinegar, so I just added it in here with the water). Cover and cook until water is absorbed (approximately 5 minutes). Top with walnuts and serve. (Adrienne's note: for extra flavor, toast the walnuts first).

Caldo Verde Lasagne (EXPERIMENTAL)

This recipe was inspired by a need to use up the leftover ingredients from the Caldo Verde recipe I made a few weeks ago. I had only a few recipe ingredients left, and I am not sure if doubling the amounts I used would work yet, so the recipe below is for experimental purposes only.


Ingredients (amounts I think would work):
1 lb Portuguese chourico sausage, diced small
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
8 cups of kale, chiffonaded
6-9 lasagne noodles
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare the lasagne noodles according to the package directions. When they're done, cut them to fit the loaf pan. I cut mine into thirds and lay the pieces so that the ruffled edges are parallel to the shorter side of the pan.

In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the diced chourico chunks until they've caramelized on most of their sides and released about 2 tbsp of red oil. Remove to a separate dish using a slotted spoon.

In the remaining red oil in the pan, sweat the diced onion. When onion is translucent, add in half of the minced garlic cloves. Cook for a few more minutes until the garlic is fragrant. Add the chourico back into the pan, and mix the chourico, onion, and garlic together. Set aside.

Wipe out the pan. Pour in the milk and cream. Add in the remaining minced garlic clove. The milk and cream should begin bubbling immediately. Add in all of the kale and continuously stir the kale into the milk and cream so that it wilts and the liquids evaporate, about five minutes. Take off heat and set aside.

In a loaf pan (this recipe is meant to make a fat lasagne to be cut in half and shared by two people), layer the chourico and onion mixture, then the creamed kale mixture, the lasagne noodles, and the shredded mozzarella cheese until you have used up all of the ingredients. The last layer should be the mozzarella layer. Try to cover up any exposed areas of noodle or else they might dry out and become crispy in the oven.

Bake in the oven until the mozzarella cheese turns golden brown, about 20-30 minutes. Garnish with parsley leaves.

Massaged Avocado and Kale Salad

This recipe comes from goneraw.com.

Ingredients:

1 head kale, shredded

1 cup tomato, chopped

1 avocado

2 tbsp grapeseed or olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

celtic sea salt, to taste

1/2 tsp cayenne

Directions:

In mixing bowl, toss all ingredients together. Mush everything together (with hands) to create marinated/wilted effect on kale. This makes it much tastier and easier to digest.

Adrienne's Notes:

The avocado massaged into the curly kale creates a creamy coating. Next time I have this salad, I'd have it with roasted corn kernels and other greens that pair well with avocado (like cilantro, black beans, etc.).

Kale-Strawberry-Tropical Fruit Smoothie

This recipe comes from the Green Diva Mom. I substituted a mango and a papaya for the three small peaches that the original recipe calls for. The smoothie came out fibrous-- like it was just a blend of coarse fruit bits. It was hard to drink because of its chunkiness. In texture only, it reminded me of a gazpacho. I had to thin it with orange juice to drink it. Any better ideas for making this more drinkable?

1 bunch green kale (here, curly kale)
1 pint strawberries
1 mango
1 papaya (reserve the seeds to make a papaya seed dressing, if you like. Recipe here)
2 cups water

All of these ingredients get blended together until smooth.

Caldo Verde and Pesto-Asiago Crostini

We got a massive head of curly kale this week. We're eating it in massaged salads as usual, but we thought it might also be nice to cook it in a soup. Caldo Verde is a hearty, spicy Portuguese soup. The recipe is here, from epicurious. The crostini recipe we made up, and ingredients/directions for that are below.

Caldo Verde:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1/2 pound chourico or linguica (smoked Portuguese sausage) or kielbasa, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 pound russet (baking) potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

6 cups water (Adrienne's Note: the comments to this recipe suggested substituting water with chicken stock, which I think is a good idea)

1 pound kale, stems and center ribs discarded and leaves very thinly sliced

Accompaniment: piri-piri sauce or other hot sauce

Directions:

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 5-quarter heavy pot over medium-high heat until it shimmers, then brown sausage, stirring often, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Add 2 tablespoon oil to fat in pot and cook onion and garlic with 1/4 teaspoon each or salt and pepper over medium heat, stirring often, until browned, 7 to 8 minutes. Add potatoes, water, and 1 teaspoon salt and simmer (Adrienne's Note: use medium heat), covered, until potatotes are very tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Mash some potatoes into soup to thicken, then add kale and simmer, uncovered, until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in sausage and cook until just heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Drizzle with remaining tablespoon oil and season with salt and pepper.

Pesto-Asiago Crostini

Ingredients:

day-old baguette, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds

pesto

grated Asiago cheese

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Smear each round with pesto. Place each round onto cookie sheet and sprinkle Asiago cheese over the rounds. Bake until golden brown, about 10-12 minutes.