Kale.
I went to the grocery to buy some greens. And greens did I buy. Aside from the usual herb salad, I also bought kale
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| a bouquet of green goodness |
I had no recipe in mind when I bought this. I know it's a healthy food and kind of trendy, but I've never had it in my plate, or in my kitchen.
So when I got home, I consulted google. And he never disappoints. The first that I saw was a page that suggests 11 ways of cooking kale. They were quite doable, and seem appetizing. From pesto, to baked kale mac and cheese, to kale slush, the variety was good. In the end, I ended up doing kale chips and chorizo and kale stew.
Kale chips
You know when health buffs try to lure ordinary people into believing that healthy food could taste as good as unhealthy food? That, I felt, was what happened to me.
I watched 3 different videos of people who made kale chips and all of them were eating those chips as if they were the best chips in the whole wide world. So I willingly fell into the trap.
The chips was easy to do. Just tear off the leaves from the stem, wash them, let them dry. I used a salad spinner to dry them faster. Then drizzle a bit of olive oil onto the leaves. If you prefer, you can also sprinkle herbs and spices to make them tastier. Place them in a baking tray, and pop them into the oven for 15-20 minutes at 180C.
After that, voila! You'll have your kale chips.
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| Ready for baking |
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| fresh from the oven |
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| kale chips on a plate |
So how did it taste like? I think that health buffs or vegetarians should be more truthful when they talk about kale chips. Or I dont know, maybe it's just that mine didn't turn out well. In terms of crunch, hands down, it was really crunchy. Like Lay's potato chips but a thinner kind of crunch. Tastewise? It didnt taste like potato chips at all. It was by all aspects tasted like, I dont know, kale? The first bite was a bit bland, save for the taste of the spices that you'll sprinkle on it. But after several chews, there's that faintly bitter aftertaste. I thought that it was because of the "burnt" ones. So I adjusted the cooking time and had ones that were still green. They were still crunchy and still had that bitter aftertaste.
So the verdict, when one chooses to eat healthy, one should learn how to love the natural taste of healthy food and not to pretend that they taste like junk food.
Oh, and after several hours, they were no longer crunchy so I ended up throwing all the 'chips' into my stew pot.
Chorizo and Kale Stew
I like this recipe better. It was direct to the point, no advertising gimmicks. Even the method of cooking was direct and simple.
Saute everything together, let it simmer, sprinkle a dash of your favorite spices (mine was cumin, paprika and cayenne pepper) and after an hour or two, you'll have a good stew.
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| ingredients: kale, chorizo, garlic and onion, tomato, potato, celery and spices |
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| saute garlic, onion and chorizo. add potatoes and tomatoes. simmer. add kale and celery. simmer again. sprinke some salt, pepper, cumin, paprika and cayenne pepper |
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| kale chips thrown into the stew pot |
Next time, I'll try the kale pesto. And maybe, give kale chips another chance. But not after trying it from a restaurant or a bag from the grocery.
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