A couple weeks ago there was an entire section of my newspaper devoted to kale, a very green member of the cabbage family. I’d never grown kale in my garden–it looked so other-worldly and never interested me. That was until I read about it.
I was wrong. Kale has garnered a lot of attention lately because it has climbed to super-food status, which means it is exceedingly healthy for me/us. Actually it didn’t rise to that status, it’s always been there, but who knew?
I like cabbage, I reasoned. I steam it, roll stuff in it, splatter my salads with thin slices of the purple variety. I love slaw, and there’s so many ways to make it. But kale ? Its leaves look tough and prickly and all those curls curled my lips, so I’d pass right over it at the grocery store. I’ve never cared for lace. Nobody I know eats kale, nobody I know serves it. Restaurants don’t offer kale on menus (perhaps only in America), so I had no experience with it.
I’ll be brief. I chopped and tossed together the shredded kale with olive oil, fresh garlic, walnuts, bleu cheese crumbles, red onion slices, cherry tomatoes, and, yes, balsamic vinegar. I omitted a few thin items and added some others that seemed to complement my idea of the recipe. The result: Fabulous! Tender, tasty, unusual and very, very inviting on the plate in a green kind of way, not cabbage-ish at all. It’s the kind of dish you go back for seconds. And they tell me it’s extremely nutritious. I believe it.
Now, Kale is always in my garden. It tastes much better than what I’ve bought in the grocery store. I want to share it with the world.
