Monday, October 12, 2015

Recipes for Kale Haters!

First off, I'm not overly fond of kale. To me, it's bitter and tough, and I only grow it because I love the dark green curly leaves. This summer, I had a bumper crop, so since it's so trendy and nutritious, I decided to experiment. I tried several recipes I found online, but until I came up with these, I could eat it, but I couldn't honestly say it was scrumptious. 
Enter the secret ingredient: Curry powder. Curry covers the taste of kale better than anything I've found. So, if you like curry but don't like kale (and still think you should eat it because it's so good for you), these recipes are for you!

Creamy Kale Curry

Ingredients:

1 large bunch of kale, stemmed and torn
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup chicken broth 
Salt & pepper to taste
2 tsp curry powder
1/4 cup cream

Directions:
  1. Prepare kale and heat oil in a skillet.
  2. Add kale to skillet and cook until wilted and dark green.
  3. Add pepper, curry powder, and chicken broth and cook for about fifteen minutes covered.
  4. Uncover and cook until broth is mostly evaporated.
  5. Add about 1/4 cup cream; just enough to cover the kale. Cook until heated.
  6. Add salt to taste and serve.

Hamburger, Onion, and Kale Pie

Ingredients:

1lb hamburger
1 large onion, chopped
2 sweet banana peppers, seeded and chopped
1 large batch of fresh kale, stemmed and torn *
2/3 cup cottage cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella
6 eggs
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
3 tsp curry powder
½ tsp garlic powder
Pastry for 2-crust pie

Directions:
1.      Fill a large pot 1/3 full of water (salted if desired) and bring to a boil over high heat. Add kale and cook until wilted and dark green. Drain kale in colander and allow to cool slightly. Squeeze out excess moisture using two large tea strainers or cheesecloth. This can be done ahead of time and the kale can be refrigerated until you’re ready to make the pie. *This will use up an enormous amount of kale because it cooks down to about 1 cup when excess moisture is squeezed out.
2.      Sauté hamburger, onion, and peppers until hamburger is browned and onions are translucent. Drain off fat.
3.      Separate one egg. Mix the yolk with one tbsp water and set aside.
4.      Line a large pie dish (at least 10 inch) with bottom crust.
5.      In a large bowl, add kale to hamburger mixture and all remaining ingredients. Mix well.
6.      Place filling in pie dish. Smooth out the filling  and cover with crust, crimping and fluting the edge.
7.      Brush top crust with egg yolk/water mixture and cut slits in the crust.
8.      Bake at 375° F for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and serve