McKale
I am lucky enough to say that my boys love to eat kale. There was actually a kale incident the other night whereby I only made one bunch and some grabbing occurred at the table as the boys "fought" over it. Ok, sorry to brag, however this is what sometimes happens in my house.
Because kale is a hot commodity and because I don't get to the grocery store on a daily basis (who does?), I try to keep kale on hand at all times to avoid said conflict. Here is how I store my kale so that we can have our McKale on a daily basis --that is when we're not eating broccoli --I know, I know, it's not nice to be boastful --I apologize!
McKale
1 bunch kale
- Fill a large deep bowl with water
- Take the rubber band or twist-tie off the bunch of kale
- Submerge the leaves of kale in water, swishing them around gently to remove any dirt
- Allow kale to soak for a few minutes and swish again
- Pour water out of the bowl and rinse kale under fresh water
- Spread some cloth towels out on a counter or your kitchen table
- Place the kale on the towels and allow to dry for about an hour while you do something else
- Come back to kitchen and chop kale into 1-2 inch wide strips on a cutting board with a sharp knife
- Discard the very bottom of the stems; do not remove the ribs, they are delicious and crunchy and besides we don't want to waste food
- Place chopped kale in a cloth or paper towel
- Fit into a Ziploc bag, squeeze the air out and zip closed
- Write the date on a small piece of tape (dog ear your tape for extra easy removal)
- Place kale in the fridge
- Keeps for up to 5 days
We all know that fresh vegetables are the best in terms of taste and nutrition. And we know that cutting into anything (think of an apple that begins to brown) decreases the life force and freshness of that living thing. However, these are the times (baseball season) that call for creativity and shortcuts.
What I love about this little storage trick is that on a busy night I can come home, put a steamer basket and pot with an inch of water on the stove and have kale ready to serve in 5 minutes. With 2 children on 3 different baseball teams this year, I'll need as many shortcuts as I can get.
Serve your kale with gomasio or try this "fancy" dish. Sometimes my boys like to add ume plum vinegar and toasted sesame oil to their steamed kale, though my favorite way to eat it is raw. For other great kale recipes (especially his Kale and Mushroom Stew), see Mark Bittman's blog in the New York Times.
By the way, my 10 year old son was the "hand model" for this shoot and looked forward to it for days --I love how confidently he holds that sharp knife and chops. The boys have had their own knives (smaller, duller versions to begin with) since they were about 4 years old.
Posted on March 10, 2009 in how-to by Elana
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or Roasted Chicken Stock
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23 comments
Smart boys you have!! I love kale too :-)
Terrific shots (tell your son he might have a future in hand modeling!) and I needed this advice. Plus, you've just reminded me to add kale to my grocery list!
Thanks,
Shirley
LOL I was actually wondering whose hands those were, in that second picture I started to get suspicious...
NAOmni
Dear Elana
I thought we were the only ones who fought over vegies! My daughter and my husband used to vie for the last of the broccoli. Something like 40 years ago. You brought back some fun memories
Aloha,
Ellie
OK, I've searched up and down, what kind of grocery store does one find Kale in? I can't find it at Whole Foods or at the local grocery store that carries organic products, or any other for that matter. Can I substitute spinach for Kale in most recipes??
You tell your hand model that he did a great job!
Thanks for this post. In fact I just bought two bunches of kale in the grocery store less than an hour ago, since I haven't tried it yet. I've already conquered mustard greens and collards! :)
Susan
Kale is something that I've been able to grow quite successfully in our container garden. In fact, it's almost impossible to kill! It survived through most of the winter here in New Mexico, with very little water. Thanks for the tips on storage!
I love kale! In fact, I had a raw kale and black bean salad with my dinner tonight!
I tried the Hamantasch recipe---the older one, since the filling sounded really interesting. They were easy to make. And they are delicious! Thanks so much. (Oops, this isn't a comment about kale, is it?)
HI Elana,
What a great story and a fabulous hand model too! Ever since your other kale recipes I thought about finding it here (I never saw it in my veggie store) but that got a little bit on the background while life happened to me a little the last few weeks. But now I am all here again and will make it a quest. My mother has a patch of land as a fruit and veggie garden and I will ask her if she likes to sow kale... Why didn't I think of that earlier! I allready look forward to reaping the kale with my mum and the 2 year old of my sister... Do you have kale in your garden?
Have a lovely day and thanks again for the great story!
x Christianne
I thought maybe it was all the kale that made your hands so soft and youthful?
Fin loves kale too, but he has to fight me for it!
x x x
I don't find kale easily (or affordably) in my neighbourhood, but find beet leaves easily and for next to nothing. We use this as our green leafy veg-of-choice. It's delicious -- vaguely beety but not overwhelmingly so. Great addition to soups (veg, chicken, etc) or sauted with a bit of garlic and oil.
I love kale. Unfortunately, both DH and DS are not veggie-eaters. At all. (sigh).
Currently I do a green smoothie with raw kale as my breakfast.
Ruth, I always buy kale at Whole Foods. You can get green, red or dinosaur (lacinato). All are very good. They have the organic version from CA but I was able to find a local (GA) version last week as well.
Have you found the SALAD SPINNER? It has revolutionized the salad making in our household :) I suggest you check it out.. Mine is OXO, the original (I think) creator of the idea. It's catching on everywhere, even restaurants! (of course, theirs is bigger)
How do you prepare the kale?
When I first saw the photo (and the title), I thought it was going to be a recipe for kale chips!
I love your blog! Keep posting!!! :)
Thanks for the great comments on kale and the suggestions of other dark and healthy greens. We began growing kale in our garden last year and it was a pleasure to go out and pick it fresh for dinner. Thanks also for all of the kudos to my hand model, he will very much appreciate your "feedback" on his hand modeling :-)
Hi Elana!
Thanks for the link for the yummy raw cranberries, I am going to splurge and buy some!
I'm curious if you use this method for your other greens besides kale? I've tried this the past 2 weeks with my spinach from the farmers market but once it dries off it becomes extremely wilted-- it almost looks cooked! Frustrating when my husband already thinks it's weird that I dry greens on a towel on our bed (there is not enough kitchen counter space!) and then when they wilt like that it kind of defeats the purpose and makes me look even more crazy :-)
Thought I'd see if you have any tricks up your sleeve for this. I'm thinking of just leaving them to soak in a bowl of water in the fridge and then spin them just prior to eating? I really want to get rid of the giant salad spinner though- it takes up so much space!
Soak up some of that California Vita-D for me! xoxo
Hi CoconutGal, great question, and yes, I do use the soaking, rinsing, allowing-to-dry, wrapping in paper towel, then bagging method, for all of my greens. It keeps them fresh for as long as a week and saves space in the fridge. xoxo
Thanks Elana for the feedback.
I figured it out. I was leaving them out to dry too long. 1 hour is just perfect- and if it's really hot, maybe even a little less. This is the best method by far, the greens last a whole week. So glad you shared this. I am chucking the salad spinner!
Grew Kale for the first time this year...and whooo...can't believe the crop. Found this site while looking for recipes. Well, the massaging thing works very very well...makes a big difference as it softens the greens. Thought I might add...if you have a good food processor...well, it turns kale into confetti..and that can be used fresh (soups, salsa, salad) or can be frozen and a handful thrown into any soup later.
I won't grow so much next year but won't be without it from now on.
Bee from the Maritimes
We love Kale "chips". Prepare kale as you have in this post... then lay in a single layer on baking sheets, drizzle with oil of choice (we like olive) and season with kosher salt, pepper, garlic (and whatever else tickles your fancy like cayenne). Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes until crispy and yummy! They are addictive. I'm going to try this in a low heat dehydrator so they remain Raw... I'm sure it'll be a similar result but will obviously take longer.
Mmmm, kale my 2nd favorite veggie next to spinach.