Free the vegetables!

Lower east side Green market and me holding fresh local organic ginger while visions of dishes dance in my head!

I'm in NYC and I get excited each time I go to a local farmer's market and see the incredible produce, which is like a canvas of colours, textures and cooking and eating opportunities for me. As you can guess by now, vegetables are my friends, and I treat them with a lot of love and respect because I feel they are often misunderstood and mistreated. I sometimes feel I am the champion for them, perhaps I should start an organization, something like Free the Vegetables? There is a Vegetable Butcher at Eataly in NYC after all.

Pictures from the Green markets in NYC

 
Though, if I had to pick one vegetable that I love, and I have many, near the top would be kale.  Well, first of all I think it's very Canadian. Sorry for people not Canadian that are reading this, but hear me out and you will understand.

Kale from left to right: curly, dinosaur, Red Russian

Red Russian kale

Kale can be surprisingly bitter at times, though aren't we all at times in our lives?  But it is hearty, and you have to admire a vegetable that actually tastes sweeter after a frost. I'm not sure if I'm sweeter after a frost, but I certainly understand how to adapt and dress for it, unlike basil.

I love basil, but at the first sign of frost it is out of there with its bags packed for a sunnier, warmer destination. It might be the Club Med of herbs. It is highly attuned to the elements, especially cold, and most of us have had the experience of our basil plants dying a slow death inside, as did our visions of fresh basil in January, with its leaves dropping one by one. It longs for the hot sunny weather outside and it is not happy. It is not shy in hiding this fact.

There are many kinds of kale, two that I usually use, curly kale and dinosaur kale, called that because its spear-like leaves have a pebbled appearance that looks like the back of a dinosaur. Dinosaur kale goes by many other names like black kale, Tuscan and lacinato, but the kid in me always likes to refer to it as dinosaur or dino. Think of the first one as the stronger, bolder one and the other one as the softer, gentler one, both great but with two different personalities. I love both and use them  differently.

There is also Russian Red kale you see once in a while, and though it is pretty with its purple tones and flat oak-like leaves, I don't use it very often. First of all, it's harder to find, and though it's prettier in a way and all kale is from the cabbage family, the ones I've tried really remind me of cabbage and if I'm going to eat cabbage, I'd prefer to eat cabbage.

Now if you're like me and can't resist the deal at the farmers markets and buy too much kale or other greens here's some ways I love to use it.

- Step 1. When you get a kale home, first tear off a small piece and eat it slowly. Enjoy it but also observe what it tastes like. Is it bitter, does it have some sweetness, or is it a combination of both?

I feel this is an important part of cooking well. You need to really understand and appreciate the ingredients you are working with. Every time you use a vegetable like kale, it is different, and therefore, if you use the same recipe and it turns out differently, this is part of the reason why. If you understand what it tastes like, then before you start the recipe, you might not decide to use as much sweetness if it is sweet already or might want to add more sweetness if it is bitter. Or if it's delicious already, you may decide to use it raw and forget about cooking it.

It may sound complicated, but it's not really. It's all about using your senses and cooking from the heart vs. the mind, and being present in cooking. A recipe is just a point in time, a guide book, a map, and what makes something great is YOU.

- Step 2.  Ok, you now have this big pile of kale and don't make the mistake of keeping it in the plastic bag and cramming it into the fridge as I have done. These days, I'm trying to show more respect to the kale and at the same time allow more space in my fridge, which if like most, is probably over full.

Here's how. Take out the stems. Wash the leaves under cold water to clean and refresh. Greens love cold water. Spin or pat dry well with a towel. Chop into thin small pieces. Keep in a covered container. This won't take you so long to do, and you will have kale ready to go for the week for many purposes. And, if you have way too much kale or are going away before you can finish the container, then you can transfer the kale to a bag or container for the freezer.

- Step 3. Now, armed with a container of kale, here are my favourite uses:

- Salad. Toss it lightly with extra virgin olive oil, lemon or apple cider vinegar, a touch of maple syrup and a sprinkle of sea salt, Himalayan pink salt is my favourite. Now you mix it up with tongs or your hands. You can add what else you have on hand but not necessary. I often add goji berries or cranberries. Both kind of kale work well but I find you need less seasoning and mixing with the dino kind.

- Integrate raw kale with other things. Mix the raw kale into some finished grains, rice, salad or other dish for flavour, colour, and/or fun.  But please keep the kale thin and small and do this at the end, to preserve the nutrition, colour and integrity of the kale.

- Saute. Put a pan on high, add oil, add the kale, after a minute or so (the time will depend on the size of the kale pieces and the kind of kale), add the minced garlic and a touch of vinegar, say red wine or apple cider, put on a lid and let it steam for a minute or so, take off the lid, and then take the pan off of the heat. That is my perfect kale, fried and then steamed. Please only a few minutes or less, kale doesn't like to be over cooked, yuck! The curly kale works best for this, though if you use the second, it is only seconds vs. minutes. It may be tricky at first, but you'll get the hang of it if you pay attention.

- Soup, stews, sauces. Throw into a soup, stew, curry or tomato sauce, but please do it at the end, so it doesn't turn out all grey and mushy, thank you.

- Smoothie. Throw into your next smoothie. The amount you use depends on the amount of kale you want. I like my smoothie with about 1/4 kale to fruit like an apple, banana and berries, but it's a personal preference. You know, some times you can have too much of a good thing!

- Freeze. And then when you're making a soup, stew, curry, smoothie, grains or other creation, you can put some in. Again, near the end of the cooking cycle please as they don't need to cook, just warm up.

- Pesto. I also like to make raw kale into a pesto, using a food processor is best, with some extra virgin olive oil and then I freeze it. Some times I add to the kale other greens from basil to arugula. I make it plain, so I can add it to many things like a tomato sauce, and store it in small containers or bags in the freezer.

Oh kale, how do I love thee, let me count the ways! I could go on about other ways like baking, dehydrating, using it as a wrap, pasta filling and other uses, but I wanted to keep it simple and speak from my own experience and life. I used to do many things with it at the restaurant but I also had a team of kitchen staff to help me, a continuous supply of ingredients at my disposal, and the motivation of having enough food for service (believe me, a big stress factor because it's always a guessing game!), so that was a different modus operandi and this is me now.

Do you have other uses fellow kale lovers? I'd love to hear from you, as always, much love, Caroline