(Not) Another Kale Recipe

 

Oh god, not another kale recipe.

How many of you are saying this to yourselves right now? Don’t worry I know kale is like totally last year, and that all of us have already read and heard everything there is to know about kale. So because kale is finally making an appearance on Spicie Foodie, does that mean I’m now in the “Cool Kale Club”? Okay, so there probably isn’t such a club, but for a while it sure has felt that way…Then again, such is the case with any “it” food or new fad diets.

I’m in the club for people that much rather eat what they like and what they’re craving at the moment — no matter if it’s in vogue or not. I know many of you guys are in the same club.

You’ll never find me waiting in line for hours just to get a taste of whatever the current food (or otherwise) craze is. This doesn’t make me any less of a foodie, I would just much rather spend that time doing something else.

Though I mostly roll my eyes at the yearly published lists of what’s hot and what’s not in the food world, I can see that sometimes they have some benefits. For instance let’s look at kale, how many people discovered this very nutritious green vegetable because of the kale craze? Consuming more healthy fruits and vegetables is always a great thing for people, considering the poor diets that are so prevalent in this modern world of ours. So nutritiously speaking, obviously, more people eating kale is a good thing.

My issue with food fads and foods of the month or year, is that people will stop eating delicious and nutritious foods because they’re not fashionable anymore. Or worse, that the consumption of unhealthy foods goes insane just because they’re the “it” food of the moment (e.g. bacon on everything).

Kale is not for everyone. The taste of this deep green coloured vegetable is strong, a tad bitter, and a bit earthy –which, some people may not enjoy. I happen to love the taste, but I also really like beets and other so-called “earthy” tasting foods. Unlike other green vegetables, like spinach or chard, Kale does not wilt when cooked. The stems, that run up the whole leaf, are hard and must be cut away before eating. Because of all the curves and curls, kale needs to be cleaned more throughly than say spinach. Kale takes more work and you may or may not have the time for all the extra preparation.

 

I like to keep my greens as simple as possible, and that’s what I did with this kale. I cleaned the long leaves, I removed the firm stem, tore the pieces into small ones, heated up some avocado oil, then sautéed a bit of elephant garlic and once it was soft I tossed in the kale pieces. Now and then I stirred the pan and once the kale had soften a bit I sprinkled in some fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper; And viola! the kale was ready.

Since I had one smallish leaf of kale left I tossed it into the blender with some fresh strawberries and unflavoured almond milk. Everything was blended until smooth then I added some honey (vegans can add a different sweetener) and blended again. The combination is quite delicious and when I have kale I add it to my smoothies instead of baby spinach.

 

Kale may or may not be popular this year, but if you like it, eat it until you’ve decided for yourself that you’ve had enough.