If you’ve never had kale this will give you a great reason to try it! Kale is a cool season crop, grows itself almost effortlessly and isn’t prone to pests or fungus so it’s easy to grow organically. This wonderful veggie is loaded with good for you stuff. Our family loves kale, especially my husband. So, here you go….
First if you are new to kale you will find it in the green section of the refrigerated produce isle, near the lettuce, turnip greens, beets, carrots ect. It should be dark green with broad healthy curly edge leaves. Buy a lot it’s cheap and cooks down! I usually fill a large size veggie bag completely full, I’ll walk you through freezing any extra.
When you get it home, you can prep it a few different ways. This is super easy, and my preferred way is to prep it all at once. The first thing you will want to do is wash whatever you plan to use or freeze. For Kale Chips don’t wash until right before you want to make them, you don’t want wet kale to sit in the fridge.
Okay, to prep the kale you need to remove the tough stalks from the leaves. Hold the leaf by the stem and using your thumb and index finger strip the leaf from the stem. The tough stems are inedible. For smaller leaves the finer stem will be tender and cook up with the leaf. This isn’t a daunting task, once you get the hang of it, you can prep a huge batch in just a few minutes.
Cooked Kale
Fill a wide flat pot with water and bring to a rolling boil (If you’re in a hurry a fast simmer will do…). Take freshly washed Kale leaves and blanch in whatever size batches your pot will hold. Make sure you get the kale in and out of the boiling water as quickly as possible. You want to put the leaves for each batch in at one time stir for 10-15 seconds or until bright green and then remove from water. I use a spaghetti spoon to lift the kale out of the boiling water transfer to a colander then run under cold water to keep from over cooking. Blanch next batch… and so on until you are finished blanching all the kale. You’ll notice that after the kale has been blanched its volume has decreased significantly.
To make Cooked Kale, you will need to top 2 cups of blanched kale with 1-2 tbs of honey (to taste), 1 tsp of sesame oil and sesame seeds or pine nuts (your choice).
Reheat kale, honey, and sesame oil in the emptied pot you used to blanch the kale or for 1 minute in a microwave safe dish. You are just heating the kale backup to distribute the honey and oil, give a quick stir top with sesame seeds and serve warm.
Whatever kale is left over can be frozen in quart size Ziploc freezer bags just be sure to pack loosely and remove excess air. I use the quart size bags of my food saver.
To use; thaw in microwave, drain excess water and add honey and sesame oil reheat for 1 minute add sesame seeds and enjoy! Two minutes from freezer to table!
It's super quick, simple and nutritious.
Kale Chips
These are a fun new recipe for us, I HAD to share. Warning these are addictive! Prep kale removing stems and rinsing. Blot dry and place in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Spray or brush with olive oil and top with finely shredded Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 until crispy, about 15 minutes, watch to make sure they don't burn. These can also be prepared with just sea salt, or any spices you like. My husband made some with chili powder and Parmesan yum!, and I plan to try them made with sesame oil and sesame seeds them.
Amazingly good!
First if you are new to kale you will find it in the green section of the refrigerated produce isle, near the lettuce, turnip greens, beets, carrots ect. It should be dark green with broad healthy curly edge leaves. Buy a lot it’s cheap and cooks down! I usually fill a large size veggie bag completely full, I’ll walk you through freezing any extra.
When you get it home, you can prep it a few different ways. This is super easy, and my preferred way is to prep it all at once. The first thing you will want to do is wash whatever you plan to use or freeze. For Kale Chips don’t wash until right before you want to make them, you don’t want wet kale to sit in the fridge.
Okay, to prep the kale you need to remove the tough stalks from the leaves. Hold the leaf by the stem and using your thumb and index finger strip the leaf from the stem. The tough stems are inedible. For smaller leaves the finer stem will be tender and cook up with the leaf. This isn’t a daunting task, once you get the hang of it, you can prep a huge batch in just a few minutes.
Cooked Kale
Fill a wide flat pot with water and bring to a rolling boil (If you’re in a hurry a fast simmer will do…). Take freshly washed Kale leaves and blanch in whatever size batches your pot will hold. Make sure you get the kale in and out of the boiling water as quickly as possible. You want to put the leaves for each batch in at one time stir for 10-15 seconds or until bright green and then remove from water. I use a spaghetti spoon to lift the kale out of the boiling water transfer to a colander then run under cold water to keep from over cooking. Blanch next batch… and so on until you are finished blanching all the kale. You’ll notice that after the kale has been blanched its volume has decreased significantly.
To make Cooked Kale, you will need to top 2 cups of blanched kale with 1-2 tbs of honey (to taste), 1 tsp of sesame oil and sesame seeds or pine nuts (your choice).
Reheat kale, honey, and sesame oil in the emptied pot you used to blanch the kale or for 1 minute in a microwave safe dish. You are just heating the kale backup to distribute the honey and oil, give a quick stir top with sesame seeds and serve warm.
Whatever kale is left over can be frozen in quart size Ziploc freezer bags just be sure to pack loosely and remove excess air. I use the quart size bags of my food saver.
To use; thaw in microwave, drain excess water and add honey and sesame oil reheat for 1 minute add sesame seeds and enjoy! Two minutes from freezer to table!
It's super quick, simple and nutritious.
Kale Chips
These are a fun new recipe for us, I HAD to share. Warning these are addictive! Prep kale removing stems and rinsing. Blot dry and place in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Spray or brush with olive oil and top with finely shredded Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 until crispy, about 15 minutes, watch to make sure they don't burn. These can also be prepared with just sea salt, or any spices you like. My husband made some with chili powder and Parmesan yum!, and I plan to try them made with sesame oil and sesame seeds them.
Amazingly good!
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