I bought some kale today at Whole Foods on a whim. I’ve never had kale before, but I keep reading how healthful it is, and I feel like I make the same three or four vegetables all the time anyway. Knowing the affinity that dark green, leafy vegetables have for garlic, cured pork, and lemon, I went rooting around in my freezer for some bacon … and found, instead, some chorizo I’d frozen probably two months ago and forgotten. Thus, this dish.
1 bunch kale (no idea how you measure this stuff)
2 cloves garlic, slivered
1 link chorizo or andouille sausage (cured or dried, but not fresh), diced finely
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp water
pinch salt
lemon juice (optional)
1. Remove the kale leaves from their stems. (Best way: Fold the leaf in half at the stem, cut the stem away from the leaf.) Slice crosswise into ribbons. Rinse in a salad spinner or colander.
2. In a large lidded sauté pan, heat the olive oil until hot but not smoking. Add the garlic and sausage and sauté until the garlic is brown, the oil has turned slightly red or golden, and the sausage is fragrant.
3. Add as much kale as the pan will hold and toss gently in the oil. When this wilts, add more kale, continuing until all of the kale is added.
4. Add the 1 Tbsp water and reduce the heat to medium. Put the lid on the pan and cook for 15 to 18 minutes, until the kale has turned a deep green and is fully wilted. (The curly edges will still be curly and a little stiff.)
5. Season with salt and, if desired, a twist of lemon juice. Serve immediately.
This is very similar to a potato kale soup I make.
Same thing except no lemon, sweated onions instead of garlic and several boiled peeled potatoes. Blend like crazy with olive oil, salt and pepper. Float some fried chorizo or andouille on top. Salt pork would probably also be good.
By the way, I have taken to keep salt pork in my refrigerator at all times now. I slice it into lardons and roast them with potatoes under chicken. I mince it for carbonara and eggs. I fry it with onions and mix it with ricotta for ravioli. It really has become an indispensable staple in my kitchen.
“You can really taste the kale!”
Absolute classic ‘Cheers’ episode.
I make a very similar dish frequently. I generally use it as a side, so I don’t use sausage (or chicken) much. And I sub out the lemon juice for balsamic vinegar. Nice thing with the recipe is that it works for any leafy, bitter greens: spinach, kale, swiss chard, broccoli rabe, etc. Easy, easy to make, and delicious.
I used to have kale juice on a regular basis when I was a kid… As a juice, it wasn’t really appetizing, but it is really delicious with sliced and grilled pork belly, as bitterness of kale cuts the fat of pork belly.
Since you call for cured sausage, I imagine you are speaking of Spanish chorizo or is there a cured Mexican chorizo I don’t know about?
Keith –
“I’ve never had kale before, but I keep reading how healthful it is”
I mean this as a legitimate question – doesn’t cooking a vegetable like kale release* all the nutrients, thereby limiting any health benefits?
*that’s probably not the right word, hopefully you understand what i’m asking
Glen, I believe it depends on how you cook it. If you microwave vegetables, most of the nutrients leech out. If you steam them however, they retain much more of their nutrient value. Still doesn’t compare to raw though.
You lose some nutrients by cooking food, but you also make more of the nutrients available by breaking down the cell walls. The levels of nutrients found in raw foods don’t match what your body can actually extract from them. So sayeth AB, at least.
Thanks for posting the recipe, Keith. I’ll give it a shot.
Pork fat makes everything taste better. A simple preparation for steamed kale (as a incredibly healthy side dish) is to steam it up until wilted. Add Salt and Pepper and then dress with this simple sauce:
1/4 Cup Tahini + 1 Tbsp Miso. Stir until Miso is fully incorporated and spoon over kale. To completely blow this off the chart on the healthy scale, sprinkle with flax seeds.
Swiss Chard is another leafy green that gets overlooked. Check out Bobby Flay’s Swiss Chard w/ Smoked Bacon and Jalapeño Vinegar.
There are lots of interesting varieties of kale you can try too. It sounds like you had one of the curly leaf edge types for this dish but you could also try either some of the smooth edge varieties or the Italian types. The smooth edged types like Red Russian or Siberian have a lighter, milder taste and when harvested really young are sometimes included in salad mixes to be eaten raw. The Lacinato or Italian types of kale have longer thicker darker green leaves and a heavier robust flavor. In my opinion all types of kale are best in the fall after the first touch of frost hits the plants but before the first really hard frost. These cold hardy plants like kale, arugula, and raab sweeten up a bit in response to frost. Here in Kentucky I can place a fabric row cover over hoops to cover my gardens kale and protect it from hard frosts and be eating it fresh into January.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/24/dining/24appe.html?ref=dining