Kale

"Michael "Dog3" Lonergan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Michael - I'll tell you a secret about kale, but don't reveal this to anyone
else here in this newsgroup, OK? If you're trimming the fatter stems from
kale, and feed them into the disposal, it will first turn into something as
strong as the fat rope used on huge ships, and then, into concrete. It's a
great dinner party trick, especially if you're at the home of someone you
don't like. If they want to use their sink any more that evening, they'll
need to have plumbing tools handy, and probably a new disposal.

I learned this many years ago in my first house. It marked the beginning of
my love affair with large pipe wrenches.

"Michael "Dog3" Lonergan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Puester <[email hidden]> news:Svq6g.42335$eR6.41252@bgtnsc04-
news.ops.worldnet.att.net:

Quoted message said:

Anthony said:

In an effort to increase my veg repertoire I bought some kale. I
sauteed some onion and garlic, put in the kale with some dry pepper
flakes and covered the pan. I cooked it for about 15 minutes, stirring
now and then. It was horrible. Back to spinach!

It is definitely an acquired taste. I don't think 15 minutes is long
enough to tenderize it. Kale is tough, strong flavored and very strong
smelling. My ancestors used it in soup but i have always preferred
collards instead. Either way, I don't think I've made the soup in 20
years. It was never my favorite.

gloria p

A long time ago, when I was inspired by Emeril, I made his mother's
(allegedly) Portugese Kale Soup. It was pretty good IIRC. Here is the
recipe.

Portuguese Sausage and Kale Soup

That soup is delicious. And, if you back off on the sausage, you can drop in
some shrimp & scallops a few minutes before serving.

"Dee Randall" <[email hidden]>
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Michael, I finished left-overs today of Portuguese soup.

<snip for space>

Quoted message said:

One thing I did add this time that I never had before was about 2" of
the tip of a nice parsnip, diced finely. You could discern it, but it
made it just a little bit better for us. Try it next time if you have
a spare parsnip around if you like parsnips.

I love parsnips and will try it next time. I like parsnips mashed with
plain old butter, S&P.

Michael

--
"The first zucchini I ever saw I killed it with a hoe."
John Gould, Monstrous Depravity, 1963

"Doug Kanter" <[email hidden]>
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

"Michael "Dog3" Lonergan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Michael - I'll tell you a secret about kale, but don't reveal this to
anyone else here in this newsgroup, OK? If you're trimming the fatter
stems from kale, and feed them into the disposal, it will first turn
into something as strong as the fat rope used on huge ships, and then,
into concrete. It's a great dinner party trick, especially if you're
at the home of someone you don't like. If they want to use their sink
any more that evening, they'll need to have plumbing tools handy, and
probably a new disposal.

I learned this many years ago in my first house. It marked the
beginning of my love affair with large pipe wrenches.

GAWD... Thanks for the tip. Thankfully I seldom use the disposal for
getting rid of veggie discards. I usually hook a plastic grocery bag to a
drawer handle and throw the stuff in it and take it out to the trash can.

I LOVED the dinner party idea ;o)

Michael

--
"The first zucchini I ever saw I killed it with a hoe."
John Gould, Monstrous Depravity, 1963

Anthony said:

In an effort to increase my veg repertoire I bought some kale. I
sauteed some onion and garlic, put in the kale with some dry pepper
flakes and covered the pan. I cooked it for about 15 minutes, stirring
now and then. It was horrible. Back to spinach!

I'll come clean: I'm a kale eater. I don't even worry about what
season I buy the kale in. I eat kale in soups and as a vegetable side
dish. The secret is in thinking of it like cabbage. People take one
look at kale and think "spinach." They try to cook it like spinach and
pronounce it tough, or they cook it to death and pronounce it bitter or
weird flavored. If you imagine it as a substitute for cabbage instead,
there are many nice possibilities.

Raw-- Cole slaw is good if the cabbage is thinly sliced or shredded.
Same for kale.

Stir-fry-- Same deal. I slice kale in thin strips, toss it hot oil and
add julienne carrots. Then sesame seeds, ginger, a drop of tamari, a
drop of vinegar, are all nice.

Water methods-- I cook broccoli the same way. I bring a pot of water
to a boil, add the stemmed kale, take the pot off the heat, cover, and
time exactly 5 minutes. Then drain, cool enough to where it can
squeezed with my bare hands and squeeze out the water. Then butter,
salt and pepper. (I don't like to second-guess other people's tastes
and experience, but the idea of cooking kale for 15-20 minutes is absurd
in my book.)

That last one reminds me of this advice. Throw away the stems. That
might be where the idea of over-cooking comes from. I hold the rib in
my left hand and strip the leaf off with my right. The leaf then goes
straight into the collandar for washing. When you don't have to worry
about getting the stem tender, the leaf cooks up nicely.

--Lia

Julia Altshuler said:

in my book.)

That last one reminds me of this advice. Throw away the stems. That
might be where the idea of over-cooking comes from. I hold the rib in
my left hand and strip the leaf off with my right. The leaf then goes
straight into the collandar for washing. When you don't have to worry
about getting the stem tender, the leaf cooks up nicely.

That was definitely the problem. I included the stems and the cooking
time was then a compromise which worked for neither part. Thanks.

Julia Altshuler said:

Anthony said:

In an effort to increase my veg repertoire I bought some kale. I
sauteed some onion and garlic, put in the kale with some dry pepper
flakes and covered the pan. I cooked it for about 15 minutes, stirring
now and then. It was horrible. Back to spinach!

I'll come clean: I'm a kale eater. I don't even worry about what
season I buy the kale in. I eat kale in soups and as a vegetable side
dish. The secret is in thinking of it like cabbage.

The secret is that kale is not "like" cabbage... kale IS cabbage.

Sheldon

Anthony said:

Julia Altshuler wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

That last one reminds me of this advice. Throw away the stems. That
might be where the idea of over-cooking comes from. I hold the rib in
my left hand and strip the leaf off with my right. The leaf then goes
straight into the collandar for washing. When you don't have to worry
about getting the stem tender, the leaf cooks up nicely.

Quoted message said:

That was definitely the problem. I included the stems and the cooking
time was then a compromise which worked for neither part. Thanks.

Yes, the stripping technique described above saves a lot of
time. I usually discard stems above the point where they're
greater than maybe a quarter inch across. If I'm in a hurry
I end up also discarding some small fraction of leaf that has
still stuck to the stems after stripping; If I'm not in a hurry
I will recover these. Regardless you must allocate three
to five minutes to wash, strip, and chop a large head of kale.

Steve

Julia Altshuler said:

Stir-fry-- Same deal. I slice kale in thin strips, toss it hot oil
and add julienne carrots. Then sesame seeds, ginger, a drop of
tamari, a drop of vinegar, are all nice.

Mmmm.... sounds real tasty. I'll give it a try. Thnx.

Quoted message said:

might be where the idea of over-cooking comes from. I hold the rib in
my left hand and strip the leaf off with my right. The leaf then goes
straight into the collandar for washing.

That's how I learned to prepare greens, from a loving article by
Leontyne Price. I find it almost therapeutic to sit and clean greens
while watching the tube.

nb