Kale is king? Who knew?
I grew kale for the first time last year, hearing it was good in soup, and I love soup. I grew the Italian variety (Toscano, “Lacinato” type) and was delighted with the beautiful blue-green color and dimpled oval leaves. This year I grew the more traditional American variety (Winterbor), the kale of the ruffled leaves and I-Dare-You stance.
I will return to the Italian variety next year, just because I like its appearance better (shallow Vegetable Bigot that I am), but I am loving the taste of kale this year just as much.
Here is one recipe for kale that I adapted from Ellen Ecker Ogden’s “From the Cook’s Garden.” Her recipe is called “Polenta with Tuscan Kale.” I took out the polenta and sun-dried tomatoes (because I didn’t have any in the house, not because I had a better idea), and came up with this version:
Snazzy Side Dish
1 bunch of kale
4 T. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 cup pine nuts
Parmesan cheese
Remove the stems from the kale, and coarsely chop the leaves. Simmer in lightly salted water for 15 minutes.
While the kale is simmering:
toast pine nuts in a dry pan until just browned and fragrant. Set aside.
grate some fresh parmesan and set aside
sauté sliced garlic in olive oil until the garlic just begins to brown.
Drain the kale, and toss with the oil and garlic. Stir in the pine nuts. Serve topped with parmesan.
The strong flavor of the kale is well-matched by the garlic, pine nuts and parmesan. This is a kale dish even Husband will eat.
WORDS FROM OTHERS
“Kale is king….For a green, kale is unusually high in fiber. This helps create the bulk you need to fill you up and to keep you full for a good amount of time. Kale is also an excellent source of nutrients, especially vitamin A and calcium….Not only is it one of your best sources of beta-carotene…kale possesses other important caratenoids: lutein and zeaxathin. These carotenoids help keep UV rays from damaging the eyes and causing cataracts. According to recent research results, kale is an incredible source of well-absorbed calcium, which is one of the many factors that may help prevent osteoporisis. It also provides decent amounts of vitamin C, folic acid, vitamin B6, manganese, and postassium.
The manganese in kale helps your body’s own antioxidant defense system, superoxide dismutase, protecting you from damaging free radicals. Its folate and B6 team up to keep homocysteine levels down, which may help prevent heart disease, dementia and osteoporosis bone fractures.”
Amy in the Garden 
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