My new Best Friends Forever

I suppose everyone goes through phases in which one cannot get enough of a certain foodstuff or method of cooking and develops a sudden passion, like those of adolescents for a temporary crush.

This week (or possibly month, for it has already lasted some time), my two special best friends forever-ever-ever are kale (or chard, if I can't find kale) and a new cooking pot called Gastrolux Biotan (registered trademark and don't you forget it). I even took a picture of the two together (and for those who know me, this has got to be a first-ever event).

What you see here is an unremarkable weeknight dinner, with a mix of brown and red rice, ground pork, onion, red and yellow peppers, zucchini (courgettes), and kale, in my wonderful new skillet.

The skillet is amazing because nothing burns and nothing sticks, and it doesn't flake like Teflon. You can throw any meat into it, without adding oil, and it will cook beautifully with whatever fat is already in the meat.

And kale is amazing, because you can heat it and wilt it and yet it remains robustly green and frilly, whereas spinach turns to slime under the same conditions. And I say this as someone who loves spinach.

I hasten to add that I am not being paid by the Gastrolux people or the Kale Kouncil of America to make these claims. I am honestly in thrall to my skillet and to greens that were once of only mild academic interest.

I sometimes use the skillet to do a quick stir-fry of kale (or chard) with a bit of olive oil and garlic; this then becomes a bed for any available protein (chicken, fish, steak).

I daresay that my crush will wane, as these things do, but for now it's me and my skillet, my bunch of kale, and my gas stove. We are invincible.

Pasta with greens and peas

Another Kick at Kale

Honestly?  I’d never eaten kale until Alex introduced us a couple of months ago.  And I enjoyed it.  It’s not a leaf that takes a back seat.  You know you’ve got your work cut out as it’s full of texture and fibre, never mind that it’s fluorescent green.  This might not appeal to the under 10s or over 90s, but slightly wilted in the pan just before serving and mixed with the other ingredients, kale in this form might even attract the attention of very young and very old.

I would never even have considered a kale recipe before my first swing at the stuff with Alex’s encouragement, but on a recent trip to Toronto I spied one in the Globe and Mail, a Lucy Waverman offering, which I cut out and considered and as usual, decided to use simply as a base for my own concoction.  Is it a genetic tendency or do all of you generally add and subtract from the set piece and experiment freely?

The results in this case were successful which is why I’m offering it to the kale converts in our midst, and perhaps to those kale novices who would like to give it a go.

200g cooked pasta (Lucy suggested orechiette but I had fresh penne to use)

3 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

200g mushrooms, sliced

150g pancetta cubed

1 tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed

¼ tsp chili flakes

150g chopped kale (wash and remove the tough mid-rib and stem)

dozen or so cherry tomatoes halved

balsamic (optional)

Cook pasta in boiling, salted water.

Heat olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the garlic and mushrooms together gently.  Add pancetta and fry together until it is browned.  Add chick peas and chili flakes.  Toss together for about a minute to combine the flavours.

Add kale and cook for a further couple of minutes until the kale is just wilted.  Turn into a big bowl and toss with the cooked, drained pasta (adding a splash of balsamic if necessary to bind the ingredients slightly).

Serve with a scattering of halved cherry tomatoes on top. 

Serves 3 comfortably.

Of cabbages and kings

Kale. Not a vegetable I was familiar with before stumbling across this recipe on my favourite cooking blog sometime last year. I even had to google it to find out which vegetable family it belonged to (most closely related to the cabbage, in case you wanted to know). I made that Orangette recipe once or twice and enjoyed it, but then kind of forgot that kale existed again. Until this week. Now that I'm getting into cooking in a big way I've started perusing the blogosphere again, and on the front page of one I found a recipe for kale and winter squash salad which sounded delicious.

Well, I made this salad for myself earlier in the week, tested it out on some friends tonight, and plan to make it for dinner with the family on the weekend. I'm not often moved to make the same recipe three times in one week, but this is just so good that right now, I want to eat it every day. Very simple to make, but the combination of flavours elevates it into something special. I promised lots of recipes involving cheese on this blog, and this fits the bill (and forget about the half-fat mild cheddar for this one - it needs something crunchy and sharp to cut through the caramelised sweetness of the butternut squash).

Kale and butternut squash salad
(Adapted from Northern Spy's kale salad)

1/2 cup cubed butternut (or other winter) squash (I also added some sweet potato)
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 1/2 cups curly kale
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup crumbled or grated cheddar cheese
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
parmesan, for shaving (optional)

Heat the oven to 425° F. Toss the squash cubes in just enough olive oil to coat, and season with salt and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet, leaving space between the cubes. Roast in the oven until tender and caramelized, about 40 minutes, tossing with a spatula every 10-15 minutes. Toast the pine nuts on a baking sheet in the same oven until they start to smell nutty, tossing once, for about 10 minutes. Leave to cool.

In a large bowl, mix the kale, pine nuts, cheddar cheese and squash, and toss in approximately 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Garnish with shaved parmesan cheese and serve. This should do for about two people as a main dish, but will serve more as a starter or side salad.

Best served with champagne and enjoyed with friends on a good news day, which was what today was for me!