Perhaps this brassy brassica hasn’t made your weekly shopping list or maybe you’re looking for a way of incorporating it into your diet without falling back on stews and stir-fries. If so, here are seven recipes on the theme of kale that might just inspire.
It may well be hailed as a ‘superfood’, but it’s hardly the nation’s most popular vegetable. Perhaps because, whichever way you look at it, kale is cabbage and people rarely rave about cabbage; do they? People imagine over-stewed, malodorous mush, heaped onto the side of their Sunday roast. But kale seems to escape this fate (thankfully) for two reasons: 1- it isn’t called cabbage, it’s called kale, and we probably weren’t forced to eat it as much when we were bairns; 2- kale has garnered quite the reputation over recent years for being as nutritious as they come. All the more reason to try out some of the recipes below.
1. Kale Pesto
If there were a kale cliché, this’d be it- not without reason though. It may not have the basilly punch of your genovese, but, dare I say it, it tastes all the better for it. Coat your potatoes in it, strew it on your steak or try the artichoke spaghetti recipe below.
To make about a jar of pesto:
50g pine nuts, toasted
1 clove of garlic
20g parmesan, grated
60g pecorino, grated
80g kale
juice of 1 lemon
100ml of extra virgin olive oil
a pinch of salt
Literally, throw all of the above into a blender and blend away until smooth. Use straight away or put it in a jar with a layer of olive oil over the top, place in the refrigerator and it should last for a couple of weeks or so.
Spaghetti with kale pesto and artichokes
makes two big portions or three smaller portions
200g spaghetti
1 shallot, chopped
100g artichoke hearts (the kind you get in a jar, in oil)
5 or 6 tbsp of kale pesto (recipe above)
a handful of rocket leaves
a little pecorino
a generous grinding of black pepper
1. In a pan, fry off your shallot until softened.
2. In another pan, cook your spaghetti in salted simmering water until just cooked (with a small amount of bite left)
3. Meanwhile, add the artichoke and pesto to your shallots and cook for a couple of minutes. You can make it a little more saucy by adding some of the starchy water your pasta was cooked in if such is your wont.
4. As soon as the pasta is done, drain it, add it to the sauce and ensure the pasta is thoroughly smothered in the pesto.
5. Serve with a little rocket, a few shavings of pecorino and a good amount of freshly ground black pepper.
2. Crispy Kale
Some might call these kale crisps, others might label it seaweed. I call it crispy kale. Any way you look at it, it’s quick, easy and tasty.
Simply get some larger pieces of kale (I’d leave out those with particularly woody stems), make sure they’re dry and coat them in a little oil. Spread them out on a baking sheet and add a seasoning of your choice. I add a pinch of salt, sugar, ground ginger and black pepper, but you could add smoked paprika or five spice or sumac, etc. Bake in the oven on a low heat (about 140°C) until crispy. They’re prefect for a sauce-like dip like sweet chili, but a little too brittle to be snapping into your hummus.
3. Rumbledethumps
A border version of colcannon and a decent way of using up any leftover mashed potato. I like making them into little potato cakes and serving for breakfast with a fried egg, some fresh chopped tomato and the theme tune to ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’, but they’d also make a great accompaniment to roast pork and crackling. The recipe below should serve 4 or 5 people.
700g potatoes
150g kale
1 large onion
2 spring onions
2 tbsp sour cream or yoghurt
100g hard cheese (I used Berwick Edge)
2 tbsp butter
white pepper
salt
1. Peel the potatoes and boil them in salted water for about 20 minutes or until tender.
2. Meanwhile, soften the onions in a little oil and steam the kale until it turns a vivid green.
3. Drain the potatoes and mash them with the butter and sour cream. Add half of the cheese, the salt, pepper, onions and kale.
4. form into little rounds, place on a baking tray and sprinkle the remainder of the cheese on top. Cook at 220°C (200°C for fan) until crisp and golden.
4. Kale Sarma
Sarma are stuffed leaves found throughout Eastern Europe and Central Asia. You might be more familiar with the vine leaf wrapped variety, but these ones are made using cavolo nero and instead of having a meat and rice mixture in the middle, these are completely vegetarian-friendly.
10 cavolo nero leaves
100g long grain rice
2 tomatoes, chopped
half an onion, finely chopped
a bunch of mint, chopped
a bunch of parsley, chopped
a clove of garlic
a pinch of paprika
1. Steam the cavolo nero leaves for a couple of minutes and set to one side.
2. Fry the onion until translucent, add the garlic, tomato, rice and paprika and continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes.
3. Add about 100ml of water and cook until it has been absorbed by the rice. Turn off the heat, add the mint and parsley and season to taste.
4. Now to wrap the mixture in the cavolo nero leaves. Place some of the rice mixture onto the middle of a cavolo nero leaf (I found it easier to place it along the length of the leaf). Roll the leaf around the mixture, tucking the sides in on the first fold. Try and wrap it as tightly as possible, but try not to tear the leaves. Repeat this for all of the cavolo nero leaves. Exactly how much filling you’ll need depends on how big your leaves are.
5. Pack the stuffed leaves tightly into a pan, adding enough water to just cover them. Into the pan put a plate, small enough to fit into the pan and press the sarma. Cook for about thirty minutes.
6. Serve with a little yoghurt, lemon and fresh mint.
5. Urap
I tried this once in Jogjakarta and I’ve been trying to approximate it as best I can back here in blighty with varying levels of success. Although my version here isn’t as authentic as the Javanese variety, it doesn’t taste half bad- the combination of burly fish sauce, sweet palm sugar and fiery bird’s-eye could transform any vegetable into a sublime side dish or salad.
100g of kale
50g of green beans
50g of snake beans (or runner beans)
50g beansprouts
half a coconut, freshly grated
2 red chillis
1 bird’s eye chilli
1 shallot
2 cloves of garlic
an inch of fresh galangal
50g coconut palm sugar
4 lime leaves
2 tbsp fish sauce (you can easily leave this out to make it vegan)
a pinch of salt (maybe two pinches if you’re not using the fish sauce)
1. Chop the chillis, shallot, lime leaves, galangal and garlic and pop them in a mortar with the palm sugar, fish sauce and salt. Pound them until they make a smooth red paste.
2. Heat a little oil in a pan and fry the spice mix for 2-3 minutes. Add the coconut to the spice mix, combine thoroughly and put to one side.
3. Steam the vegetables until the kale and beans are a vivid green and just cooked. Mix with half of the coconut spice mix and serve warm or at room temperature.
4. Either garnish with more of the coconut mix or put the extra in a bowl on the table for people to add themselves.
6. Smoked Trout & Kale Salad
Finally, a satisfying way of making one piece of hot-smoked fish go a lot further. This should make a good-sized bowl of salad and it works wonders with a little beetroot added.
125g of hot-smoked trout (or about that)
50g kale
100g soft goats’ cheese
50g pine nuts, toasted
juice of 1 lemon
extra virgin olive oil
a healthy amount of black pepper
a little salt
1. Mix together the lemon juice, oil, pepper and salt to make a very simple dressing.
2. Steam the kale for a minute or two until tender, drain and place in a salad bowl.
3, Coat the kale in the dressing and leave to cool.
3. Flake the hot-smoked trout into the bowl (I smoked the trout in alder seeing as we gave it an 8/10), add most of the pine nuts and toss.
4. Just before serving, crumble the goats’ cheese and scatter the remaining pine nuts over the top. You might want to add another grinding of black pepper fr good measure.
Smoke & Spice 