Playing With Kale

I have these big beautiful Red Russian Kale plants growing in my vegetable garden.  This is my first time growing it- my previous attempts at growing kale was Dinosaur (or Lacinato) Kale.  This year, the rabbits ate my Dinosaur Kale, and while I’m waiting for the replanted kale to grow, I have several plants of the Red Russian Kale ready and waiting.

But what to do with it, that is the big question.  In the past, I’ve added kale to stir-fries, soups and stews.  I’ve frozen it to add to soups in the winter.  I’ve even made those Kale Chips circling about the internet.   Most often though, when I’ve been playing with kale, it’s when I am dining alone, as Andy’s experiences with kale have been less-than-pleasant.  Meaning, when I mention kale, he wants to flee immediately.

So here I sit with these beautiful kale plants, a husband who doesn’t want to eat kale, and two kids who don’t care for cooked greens at all.   And yet I keep planting it, because I love it.  Kale and Swiss Chard are two vegetables that I will always have in the garden.  Always.

Anyway, the other day I was looking in the fridge for a quick lunch inspiration when I saw a container of mushrooms that was mostly empty.  I mentally made a note to remember that I had mushrooms and to use them before they went bad.  Then I thought about the gorgeous kale in the garden just begging to be eaten and an idea was born- I was going to saute those mushrooms with some kale and garlic and use them to stuff an omelet.

This is most definitely not a recipe.  I’ve always done a terrible job making omelets until I watched the Barefoot Contessa make them on her show- all the sudden, I knew how to do it, and haven’t done so terribly ever since.

For my filling, I started with my mushrooms.  I sliced them up and got them sweating in a saute pan with some butter and oil.  As they cooked, I went out to the garden and harvested about six large kale leaves.  To prepare those, I washed them and removed the tough center rib.  Then I coarsely chopped the leaves and waited for the mushrooms to cook a little further.  I decided then to add a clove of minced garlic, and then at the last minute I went back outside and picked four basil leaves and finely chopped those as well.  Once the mushrooms were nicely cooked, I added the garlic and cooked that for a minute or so with the mushrooms.  Then I piled the kale on top of the mushrooms, along with a pinch of salt and pepper, and then cooked them until wilty.  At the very end, I added the basil, and then pulled the pan off the heat while I cooked my eggs.

The eggs were basic- a little salt and garlic pepper, and then just before I piled the filling on the eggs, I added a slice of sharp white cheddar cheese.

This omelet was fabulous.  I suppose if you needed meat, you could any breakfast type meat, but I thought this was perfect as is.  Andy also enjoyed his omelet, and then proceeded to tell me that I could go ahead and cook with kale if it tasted like this.  He even suggested using it for a pizza topping one of these days, so you can bet we’ll be trying that out soon.

I’ve had this recipe for Braised Kale and Feta Tartines bookmarked for months now.  One of these days we’ll be giving this one a try as well.  So I’m on the prowl for kale recipes that are not soup or stew related.  Those will be reserved for the cool months when I have kale in the freezer.  I also just found this recipe for a Kale and Almond Pesto– this sounds fabulous as well.  Do any of my readers have some kale suggestions?  I’d love to hear them!