Wednesday, October 08, 2014

Kale! It's the new broccoli!


Remember when broccoli was all the rage as an extremely nutritious vegetable?  A grocery cashier recently told me she was amazed at the number of people buying kale.  Don't get me wrong.  Broccoli is a good vegetable.  But kale surpasses it in a couple areas. Broccoli has 87% of the daily requirement for vitamin A compared to kale's 206%.  Broccoli has 494% of the daily requirement for vitamin K. (not bad!) But kale has 684%!

There's just one problem with kale.  It's not very tasty.  It's kind of bitter and a little chewy.  So you have to have a good recipe to doctor it up if you're going to eat kale and enjoy it.

I posted this kale slaw recipe a while ago but I'm posting it again because the kale in my garden (pictured above) is doing great.  It's a Martha Stewart recipe and you can find her link here.  I'm amazed that my entire family, everyone, loves this recipe.  And it's kale!!

Kale Slaw

2 large bunches of kale (but not TOO large) --about ten cups
1 yellow, orange, or red pepper
2 carrots, thinly sliced crosswise (or julienned looks pretty if you have a slicer)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup salted peanuts
2 Tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 cup salted peanuts (a different 1/4 cup :-)

Slice kale crosswise thinly.  (If you use curly kale it will look like that crinkly packing material)
Thinly slice pepper lengthwise. (or chop in bite size pieces)
Toss carrots, pepper, and kale.
Puree 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, 1/4 cup vinegar, 1/4 cup salted peanuts, 2 T brown sugar, and salt.
Pour dressing over vegetables just before serving. (Or anytime.  I like it poured over earlier, even hours earlier.)
Sprinkle with 1/4 cup nuts, coarsely chopped.

This recipe can also be made with almonds, but use a smaller amount of almonds in the dressing. (gets too thick otherwise)

I may make it today.  It's delicious!!


Voila!!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you posted this! I was actually going to ask you for the recipe! My housemate grows kale in her garden so I told her about this recipe and she wanted me to get it for her! -Elle

Rosemary said...

Cool, Elle! It's the only kale recipe that everyone really likes a lot! Hope she likes it!

Jill said...

Looks great, Rose! I wish I could eat raw kale, but, with a thyroid condition we are told we have to lightly steam it (same with broccoli, spinach, Bok choy, cabbage ..... and maybe a few others). I can get the nutritional info to explain why this is so. But,I thought maybe others who might have thyroid conditions might want to know this too. But, the good news, is that some of these recipes can still be made if you lightly steam the vegetable (kale, spinach, etc.) first. I did see recently a great looking kale salad with it being lightly steamed first. Maybe yours can be done that way too perhaps for those who need to eat it that way (?). Yum, though! Looks great....and so jam-packed with nutrition!

Rosemary said...

I bet you could, Jill. One of the reasons why I don't put on the dressing right before serving is that I like it a little wilted. You also end up eating more that way too. And once it's cut real thinly I bet lightly steaming would take less than a minute.