Aside from the usual salads, we didn’t do anything super spectacular with our share.
I think, the thing I love most with kale is sausages. This is a classic recipe (also sausages with broccoli rabe) that has been written up numerous times on various blogs, including this vegetarian recipe. One good twist to this dinner staple that my husband did was to add a can of whole italian plum tomatoes to the mix. Just squeeze the tomatoes with your (clean) hands to roughly crush them up.
The other tasty thing we did with kale was to create a saute of kale and a ham slice from our Woodbridge Farm pork share (yes, we still have stuff in the freezer!). We ate that with some homemade cornbread. Kale tastes great with hot sauce, or for an even richer flavor, add jalapenos to the cornbread. The kale (with or without ham) would also taste great with some roasted butternut squash with jalapenos. The jalapenos, used sparingly, give the butternut squash a smoky chile flavor without being spicy.
Remember, we got some bok choy a couple of weeks ago? Well, we still had it and it was looking a little sad, but I made Korean jap chae. Jap chae is a vegetable mix with potato starch noodles. You can get jap chae noodles at H Mart on 32nd Street (Koreatown). Normally, bok choy doesn’t go in jap chae, but whatever–it had to get eaten.
Butternut Squash with Jalapenos
(From Mark Bittmans, How to Cook Everything)
1 2- to 3- pound butternut or other hard-to-peel winter squash
2 tablespoons butter or oil
Salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
1 tsp brown sugar (optional)
1 clove garlic cut in half (optional)
1 seeded jalapeno or smoky chile
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Cut the squashes in half and scrape out the strings and seeds. In each half rub the butter/oil, salt, pepper and sugar (if desired). Rub with garlic, if desired. Place on a baking sheet, open side down and bake until tender, about 1 hour.
Remove from oven and let cool so you can handle it. Peel or scrape flesh out into a processor or bowl and process/mash with 1 seeded jalapeno or chile until smooth. Add salt/pepper to taste.
Jap Chae
(Korean potato noodles)
4 ounces jap chae noodles (They are greyish and made from potato starch. If you can’t read the package (I can’t!) then just look at the ingredients.)
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
5-6 shiitake mushrooms (fresh or dried)
1 small onion
2-3 green onions
2-3 cloves garlic
1 tsp fresh ginger
Canola oil
Sesame Oil
Soy Sauce
Freshly ground pepper
Boil water and cook the noodles for 8-10 minutes. Jap chae noodles are more delicate than wheat pasta so do not overcook or you will have an inedible mush on your hands. Drain and toss with a tiny bit of sesame oil. If you can, cut the noodles up with scissors so they are loose and not in a big mass.
Mince garlic and ginger and set aside. Slicing on an angle, make thin strips of carrots, celery, onion and mushroom. Do the same with the green onions. The idea is to mimic the noodles with the vegetables so you don’t get chunks of vegetables mixed in with the noodles.
Saute garlic over medium heat in 2 tablespoons of canola oil and flavor with 1/2 to 1 teaspoon a little sesame oil (it is very strong so use sparingly). Saute the carrots, then celery and onion until starting to get soft. Add the mushrooms and saute for a couple more minutes. Add about 2-3 tablespoons of soy sauce and saute a minute or two more. Add the green onions, saute, and then add the noodles and mix lightly. Add a couple more tablespoons of soy sauce and a little drizzle of sesame oil. Add about 1/2 a teaspoon of ground pepper or more if you like it a little more zesty.
Serves 2-3.
Optional: Add some fried egg (cook like a flat omelet, then slice).
