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Category: Kale

  • Shaved Apple Kale Salad

    This seemingly simple kale salad has been on the menu at Oak at Fourteenth restaurant for over a decade. I think it is because it is a perfect balance of salty-tart-sweet-crunchy-and a little bit of spice.

    The chef-partner Steven Redzikowski has shared the recipe in local magazines and on social media several times. I have used his recipe and made it dozens of times and it is truly a restaurant quality salad if you don’t stray too far from the suggested portions and ingredients. I’ll copy the recipe below and put my comments in paratheses.

    • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
    • Zest and juice of 1 medium lemon
    • 2 cups thinly sliced kale (any kale works, just slice it thinly)
    • 1/4 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese
    • 1/4 cup roughly chopped candied almonds (you can use any candied nut (I use honey roasted peanuts sometimes) or even seeded granola if you can’t eat nuts. The sweetness from the candied nuts adds a much needed balance to the tartness in the salad. If you aren’t using candied nuts or granola add a little honey or agave or some other sweetener.)
    • 1 apple-sweet not tart apple (slice it very-very thinly-you want a thin slice of apple in every bite)
    • About 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
    • About 1/4 tsp. pepper
    • Ichimi togarashi* or red pepper flakes (*available the Asian area of the grocery store. You can use any red pepper flakes but the togarashi is really nice mild finely ground spice. The spice is a nice balance to the tartness of the apples.)

    • Whisk together oil, zest, cheese and lemon juice in a medium bowl.

    • Add kale, apple and almonds, then toss to coat.(Really-really-really toss this salad. I use my hands to tumble it in the bowl to make sure every single nook-and-cranny of the kale and apples are coated with the dressing and the candy coating from the nuts is ‘melting’ a bit to become one with the salad.)

    • Season with salt, pepper, and ichimi togarashi and pile it high on a serving dish.

    Like I said, don’t stray too far from the suggested amounts or ingredients. The beauty of this salad is the clean simplicity and balance; kale, apple, nut, salty and a hint of spice in every bite. Thanks for the recipe Steve, Chef’s kiss.

    Mo

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Super Green Pasta

    Last week I said I had a new favorite vegetable preparation. I think I spoke too soon. This Super Green Pasta is my new favorite.

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    It has only 6 ingredients, takes about 15 minutes to make, and is silky delicious and really really filling. You could have a salad or some chicken or fish or just eat it as is.

    I slightly adapted a Jamie Oliver recipe. This makes enough for two for dinner with a little leftover.  We couldn’t eat it all, we were stuffed. You’ll need;

    • 1/2 a pound of dried pasta. I used whole wheat linguine, use any kind you like
    • 4 cloves of garlic
    • 1 bunch of greens- kale, chard, spinach or beet greens. I used chard and beet greens
    • 1 ounce Parmesan cheese
    • 1 ounce ricotta cheese
    • 1 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil (I forgot to put the oil in the picture)

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    1. Cook the pasta in a pan of boiling salted water according to the package instructions. Meanwhile, peel the garlic. Tear or cut the stems out of the greens you are using and give the stems to the chickens, add the leaves and the garlic to the pasta pan and boil them for 5 minutes. Pour 1½ tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil into a blender and add the Parmesan. Use tongs to carefully transfer the greens and garlic straight into the blender and blitz for a few minutes until super-smooth. Taste and season with salt and black pepper.

    2. Drain the pasta, reserving a cupful of cooking water (I didn’t do this). Return the pasta to the pan and toss with the vibrant green sauce, loosening with a splash of reserved cooking water, if needed, then divide between your plates. Dot over the ricotta, drizzle with a tiny bit of extra virgin olive oil, and tuck right in.

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    Gosh this is so good I hope you make it. I know I will make it again and again.

    Have a great week and see you at pickup.

    Mo

     

     

  • Grain Free Kale Tabbouleh Salad

    I went to a friends for dinner last night and was asked to bring a grain free salad. I had just made this tabbouleh salad and loved it so much I made it again leaving out the bulgur and upping the greens and parsley amounts.

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    This comes together in about 5 minutes and it delicious.

    Ingredients

    4 cups of mix of greens like kale, chard finely chopped (I used one bunch of kale)
    1/2 cup of parsley finely chopped and 1/4 cup mint finely chopped
    1/4 cup Scallions finely minced
    2 Tomatoes medium, seeded and diced
    1 Cucumber medium, seeded and diced
    1/2 tsp Salt
    1/4 tsp Ground Cumin
    1/4 tsp Ground Black Pepper
    3 Tbsp Lemon or lime juice
    3 Tbsp Olive Oil

    Optional additions are

    • garbanzo beans
    • feta cheese
    • goat cheese
    • olives

    Instructions
    1. Combine everything in a large bowl and mix well. Chill for 1 hour.
    3. Before serving taste and add more olive oil, lemon (lime) juice or salt and toss again.

  • Saag Paneer

    We are getting lots of greens in our CSA share of late, here is a great way to use lots of those greens up.

    Saag is a quick easy one dish meal or side dish. It travels well and is good warm or at room temperature. Saag is usually made with spinach, but you can use any green. I actually think saag means ‘leafy green’, so use kale or chard, or turnip greens-use what you have! You can make it luxuriously rich making it with cream, or vegan by using coconut, or any plant based milk like almond or soy. If you don’t have or like paneer sub, tofu, garbanzo beans, cubed potatoes, cauliflower or just make saag and let it stand alone.

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    Basically you cook some garlic and onions and ginger in a pan and add some Indian spices, then add a TON of finely chopped greens to that pan. When the greens have wilted down you add the liquid you like and cook that to a creamy texture. Sometimes I  use an immersion blender or a regular blender to get a really smooth texture, other times I leave it a little choppy.

    Here are two basic saag recipes that you can springboard off.

    I pretty much followed the recipe from 101 Cookbooks. I like that she uses weights for the spinach. I’ll note the changes I made in parentheses.

    INGREDIENTS

    • 1 1/2 pounds fresh baby spinach, well washed and dried (I used collards and chard)
    • 2 tablespoons ghee, clarified butter, or unsalted butter
    • 8 – 12 oz paneer cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
    • 2 medium onions, finely chopped (I used a mix of our CSA green garlic, leeks and scallions)
    • scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
    • 3 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped (see my note above)
    • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (I used two tablespoons)
    • 1 tablespoon spice mixture* see below (I used a premix Indian spice)
    • 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
    • 1 cup buttermilk (I used a mix of butter milk and yogurt because I didn’t have enough of either. Feel free to use coconut milk, or a plant based milk. )
    • splash of cream or dollop of plain yogurt (I like it with a splash of cream)
    • fresh lemon to finish, and toasted sesame seeds to sprinkle

    INSTRUCTIONS

    1. Chop the spinach well, and set aside in a large bowl.
    2. While you’re chopping spinach, cook the paneer in one tablespoon of the butter over medium heat in a large skillet. Make sure the paneer is in a single layer and use a spatula to flip it regularly so all sides get deeply brown. This typically takes 7 minutes or so. Remove from the pan and set aside.
    3. Heat the other tablespoon of butter in your largest soup pot. Add the onions and salt, and saute until the onions soften up, five minutes or so. Add the garlic, ginger, spice mixture, and turmeric. Cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant and nicely combined – a minute or two.
    4. Turn the heat up to medium-high and add the spinach to the pan all at once, if possible. Cook, stirring all the while, until the spinach is collapsed and wilted, a couple of minutes. If you need to add the spinach in batches (adding more spinach as it collapses), that is fine too, just do it as quickly as possible.
    5. Stir in the buttermilk and cream and heat gently while stirring. If the mixture seems dry, add more buttermilk a splash at a time (this rarely happens to me). Taste and add more salt if necessary and more red pepper flakes if you like. Add a generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice, stir in the paneer, sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

    This is my biggest mixing bowl full of a bunch of collards and a bunch of chard. Next photo is step #1 all chopped up and then the other ingredients assembled.

    Step #3 and #5 look how much that cooks down.

    The next two pictures are, first, where I left the saag chopped and second, where I used a blender to puree it. I prefer to puree it when I make it with more hefty greens like collards and kale. I cook it a little longer too and added an extra dollop of cream. It makes it a little less chewy.

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    If you don’t already have saag in your ‘easy meal’ repertoire I hope you give it a try.

    Have a great week, see you at pickup.

    Mo

     

     

  • Kale Tabbouleh

    I wanted to make a Tabbouleh salad to take to a BBQ tonight. Usually tabbouleh is made with parsley, cucumbers and tomatoes. I looked in the refrigerator to see what I had and I didn’t have any of the those ingredients. But I did have kale, walking onions, radishes, mint and a turnip from last weeks CSA share. That will do!

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    I followed the directions on the back of Bob’s Red Mill package of bulger and subbed a few ingredients the recipe call for, with what I had.

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    Chopped and mixed it all up.

     

    I added some feta cheese and a few pepitas and I am out the door with a great salad.

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    I might like this better than the traditional salad made with parsley!

    Happy Memorial Day.
    Mo

     

     

  • Pizza Beans From Smitten Kitchen

    Earlier this year I posted a recipe for Greens and Beans. Beans with vegetables are a staple at my house. I was telling Wyatt how, for a quick dinner I often open a can of beans and a jar of tomatoes or tomato sauce, add some vegetables, toast some bread, throw an egg on it and call it dinner…he said he never makes beans. I can’t imagine.

    Wyatt, this one’s for you. Make some beans.

    I saw this recipe for Pizza Beans, it is pretty much what I make as a staple meal, but a little gussied up. This would be a perfect dish for a potluck.

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    I followed the recipe almost to the letter so I won’t post it here, just use the original recipe. I took some pictures so you can see how easy it is. I used 1 pound of dry white navy beans and cooked them in my pressure cooker. The recipe calls for butter beans. I used what I had and I really liked it. I think you could use almost any bean, or even a couple of cans of store bought canned beans if you don’t have time to make beans from scratch.

    First  chop up your vegetables. Actually quite a few vegetables, saute the firm vegetables and when they are soft add a bunch of chopped kale, chard or spinach would work too. Saute that until it is wilted.

     

    Add your cooked beans to the vegetables. I added the bean broth instead of the wine the recipe called for. If you use canned beans I would drain them and use wine or vegetable broth, mix that up and add in the tomatoes.

     

    Cook that down just a little. I moved my beans from the skillet to another dish, I was worried it might spill over in the oven. Do whatever you are comfortable with. Then top all that with some cheese and bake it until the cheese is melty.

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    When I took the first bite I was mad at myself for not adding olives and mushrooms-It is called Pizza Beans right? Duh. Sausage would be great too-pepperoni(!?). I think I’ll try to add some pizza toppings ON TOP of the cheese next time I make this, like tomatoes and mushrooms on top. This will be a go to meal for us I can tell.

    Two more CSA weeks left. I’ll see you at pickup.

    Mo

     

  • Kale Caesar Salad

    Last week I posted one of my favorite ‘go-to’ meals. So I thought why not post another?

    I make this dressing and salad so often I have my ingredients and notes on making it taped on the inside of my kitchen cabinet.

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    Using kale or any sturdy green with this Caesar dressing makes a really nice basic salad.  You can change the types of vinegar’s and mustard’s to tweak dressing to make it your own. The one secret to making a really great dressing is to taste, taste, taste as you are making it.

    This makes enough for a really-really big salad. I usually have leftovers. The leftovers keep for a week, so yay! You can have more salad! For the dressing you will need.

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    4 whole anchovy fillets-I know some people have a problem with anchovies, sorry, but you need them here.
    2 tablespoons mustard any Dijon or any grainy mustard will do
    1 tablespoon  vinegar – I almost always use balsamic
    1 dash of Worcestershire sauce
    2 cloves (or more ) fresh garlic, peeled
    1/2 whole lemon, juiced-I often use lime if that is what i have
    1/2 cup-I almost always use 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup neutral flavor oil like avocado, using all olive oil is too bitter for me.
    1 egg yolk OR 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan- I almost always use an egg yolk and not the Parmesan in the dressing, I put the Parmesan ON the salad, but if you want to use both, go for it!
    1 dash salt
    Freshly ground black pepper

    Wash and dry whatever greens you are using and put them in a bowl big enough to really be able to mix and toss the salad.

    Put all the ingredients except for the oils you are using in a food processor or blender and pulse a few time to fully incorporate them all. With the food processor, or blender on slowly drizzle the oil into the other ingredients-slowly, you will hear the ingredients thicken and start to ‘slap”. You’ll know what I mean when you hear it. Taste the dressing and add more lemon or vinegar or garlic if you need to.

    I completely forgot to take a picture of the dressing in the food processor-gack…but here is a picture of the salad before I tossed it. I like to put croutons in with the kale and dressing so they soften up a bit. Start with using about 1/2 the dressing and taste and add as you need it. Now toss-toss-mix-mix-taste-taste- really get that dressing on every bit of the salad ingredients.

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    Now you have a really nice basic satisfying Kale Caesar Salad….

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    ….that you can add any protein or other vegetable or fruit to. We had poached salmon and topped the salmon with this vinaigrette. 

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    Leftovers are great the next day, the kale holds up really well. Hope this becomes your favorite too.

    Have a great week.

    Mo

     

  • Shredded Brussels Sprouts Salad

    We have a bumper crop of Brussels Sprouts this year and I couldn’t be happier about it.

    I love Brussels Sprouts roasted, pan fried, blanched, braised and raw. I think B sprouts might be my favorite green vegetable.

    If you like kale salad you will like Brussels sprout salads. I make B sprouts salad exactly the same way I make kale salad, like the ones here and here and here and here; shred the greens, make a dressing, massage the dressing into the greens, add nuts and dried or fresh fruit if you like,  and some sort of firm cheese and enjoy.

    I’ll post a few pictures of the process, you don’t really need a new recipe, use any of the above links for kale salad (or make up your own recipe!) and sub Brussels Sprouts for the kale. They are all really tasty.

    First you need to pop the sprouts of the stock of the plant. I have been finding that I get about a quart of sprouts, more or less, per stock and that is plenty for at least 4-6 generous portions.

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    Make a vinaigrette and shred the sprouts. You can shred them with a knife, get them as thin and you can, or use a food processor with the cutting blade, not the shredding blade. The shredding blade is to fine and makes mush out of the sprouts.

    Mix the sprouts and vinaigrette in a bowl big enough to really toss everything in well.

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    I use my hands to mix everything up and really get the dressing on every part of the leaves. Mix it how you do when you massage kale salads. The sprouts get really bright green when you get it all massaged in really well.

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    Now add your nuts and cheese and whatever other extras you like.

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    And massage all that again.

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    Looking at that picture I wish I added some grapes or apples chunks, anyway. Now taste the salad very carefully. You really want to balance the acid and the oils in the vinaigrette and the salt and pepper too. It should taste bright, not tart,  but savory too.

    Here are a few more photos of a warm salad I made with Brussels sprouts I followed this recipe.

    Same thing; chop and dress the sprouts (taste and make sure it is balanced!).

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    Add the extras, I used lots of seeds and nuts and some dried fruit and I didn’t mix it I left the extras on top.

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    And added cheese.

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    And broiled it for 4 or 5 minutes.

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    It is melty and warm, but crunchy and fresh tasting.

    I hope you are enjoying the Brussels sprouts bounty as much as I am.

    Only 2 weeks left! Have a great week.

    Mo

     

     

     

     

     

  • The Perfect Kale Chip Recipe: Guest CSA Member Recipe

    Hi CSA Members:

    Today I’d like to post a guest recipe from one of our CSA Members, Laura McCall. She has perfected the Kale Chip, a fun and easy way to transform your kales into a delicious snack.  Here is here recipe. Enjoy!

     

    THE PERFECT KALE CHIP

    After playing around with different kale chip recipes for the past few years, I was pretty sure I had my recipe down pat. Then, earlier this summer, one batch of kale chips blew all my previous batches out of the water. The texture was light and crispy as usual, but the flavor was what really startled me. These chips tasted down right buttery though I had added no new ingredients. What was the magic that made the perfect kale chip? Red Wagon Farm’s curly kale!

    In addition to being organically farmed on well-nurtured land, Red Wagon’s kale has the huge advantage of being picked the very same day we get to cook it and eat it. We’ve all heard that the nutrition of fruits and vegetables decreases each day they sit on delivery trucks and on store shelves. But did you know that the naturally occurring sweetness decreases too? In the case of kale, that means fresh-picked kale will be sweeter (less bitter) than older kale. It took some head scratching on my part to come to this conclusion but once I landed on it, I knew I now had the secret for the truly PERFECT Kale Chips: farm-fresh kale!

    If you haven’t tried kale chips, or have only had the store bought version, I highly recommend making a batch at home. They have this airy texture that is far removed from the crunchy, fibrous, takes-five-minutes-to-chew-one-bite texture of raw kale. It’s so unexpected, I’ve found that even people who dislike raw kale go back for seconds of kale chips. My four-year-old son can’t get enough!

    Yield: Makes 2 sheet pans of kale chips

    Active prep and cooking time: 30 minutes

    Total time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

    Ingredients

    • 1 bunch Red Wagon Farm Green Curly Kale
    • 2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil or Olive Oil
    • Fine Sea Salt

    Directions:

    • Wash the kale thoroughly and dry in a salad spinner, or pat it dry.
    • Cut the woody stem out of each kale leaf. Then cut them into bite-sized pieces, approximately 1.5 x 1.5 inches. Any smaller bits of kale can be set aside for a salad.
    • Place the cut kale on two sheet pans covered with tea towels. Leave them on the counter for one hour to dry, tossing them occasionally as you happen to walk by. Yes, this drying time is important! If any water droplets are on the kale when it goes into the oven, your kale will start to steam. Steam = soggy kale chips!

    • After one hour of drying, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
    • Remove the tea towels and place the kale directly on the sheet pans now. Drop one tablespoon of coconut oil on each sheet pan. Then, massage a bit of the oil onto each piece of kale. If you are in a hurry, you can alternatively just drizzle olive oil onto the kale and give it a quick toss.
    • Spread kale pieces on the sheet pans so they are not overlapping but they can be touching. They will shrink as they cook.
    • Cook in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. Look for them to turn a bright green color and then a few will begin to be tinged with a golden brown color where they touch the pan. They will be light, crisp and airy.
    • Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle with fine sea salt. Enjoy right away or store in a container in your pantry (not refrigerator) for up to four days.
    • Variations: To add flavor dimension to your next batch, consider olive oil infused with garlic or chili peppers.   Spices such as cumin, garlic powder, pepper, lemon zest, etc. are also great flavorings. Your imagination is the limit!

     

     

     

     

     

     

    About Laura McCall: She joined the Red Wagon Farm CSA in 2016. You may see her at farm share pickup at Nevei Kodesh on Tuesdays with her two small kids in tow. She will probably be asking questions about the produce, swapping recipes, and generally talking about food with anyone who will listen!

  • Warm Kale Salad

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    Remember when massaged kale salad was all the rage? I think warm salads are going to be the next ‘thing’. Warm greens are less bitter and easier to chew than raw greens, AND they make great leftovers.

    This salad is a riff on this bitter green salad. I used the kale and turnip greens from my CSA share this week.

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    Turn on your broiler before you start this salad. It goes together really fast and you want the broiler hot.

    I washed and shredded up the greens and dressed them with a really simple vinaigrette dressing and piled the greens on an oven proof platter.

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    Next I sprinkled some cheese on the greens, kind of like you would a pizza, then I pop it in the oven until the cheese melted. I used smoked Gouda cheese and it melted in 3 or 4 minutes.

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    I forgot to take a picture of the melted cheese…sorry. I’m not in the blogging groove yet. Ooops.

    When it comes out of the oven all melty, top it with whatever sounds good; nuts, dried fruit, granola, pretty much anything you have in your pantry would be good I am guessing. I had roasted pecans and dried tart cherries.

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    You can see how the top of the greens sort of starts to collapse but the greens on the bottom are still firm. The melted cheese adheres to some of the greens and cheese and the vinaigrette are really nice flavors with the fresh greens. All the different textures make this salad interesting, different and  kind of sophisticated.

    The original recipe is in the link above. This is what I did;

    Warm Kale salad

    3 tablespoons vinegar – I used red wine and balsamic

    1/4 cup olive oil, Kosher salt, and freshly ground pepper

    1 bunch kale and some turnip greens – feel free to use any greens you have

    a large handful of cheese, grated – I used Gouda

    a handful or more of nuts or dried fruit

    1. Heat the broiler to high. 2. Whisk the vinegar with 1/4 cup olive oil in a large bowl and season generously with salt and pepper. Add the greens and toss to coat them nicely. Taste and adjust the seasoning. 3. Pile the salad on an ovenproof platter and top with the cheese. Broil the salad just until the cheese is melted, about 3 or 4  minutes. Sprinkle with whatever toppings you like. Serve!

    Have a great week.

    Mo

    Note; please use any of my recipes and posts as a guide, they are written knowing that ingredients change by seasons and tastes differ cook to cook.  Adjust freely and accordingly and enjoy the process – I do!