Though many of the greens will be disappearing from our tables until Spring and Summer return, kale will keep us company throughout much of the Winter. In fact, it's flavor is sweetened by a kiss of frost. Kale has been regaled as having a high sulfur content which may be part of the reason it is excellent in treating stomach and duodenal ulcers. In Chinese medicine it is considered warm, sweet, and bitter in nature as well as beneficial to the lungs and stomach. Many believe kale to be an anti-carcinogenic food, also attributed to it's sulfurous nature. Having grown up in Thailand, I never really encountered this lovely green leaf but I had a teacher when I went to school for TCM in NYC that loved his kale. He introduced me to his key lime kale. Hopefully if he reads this he can share his recipe for that with you. If you have had kale and struggle with it's bitterness and toughness at times, then this recipe which I recently created will be the perfect antidote to any fears that you might have: Kale Carbonara. Even my husband who is part of the anti-kale brigade caved in to this. It is a very friendly and sensual dish at the same time. Try it.
Ingredients:
1-2 bunches of freshly picked kale
1 egg
3 garlic cloves
6-10 cherry tomatoes (optional)
parmesan cheese
sea salt
coarse ground pepper
bacon
1. Drizzle some olive oil in a pan, turn on the flame, let it heat up and add 2 slices of chopped up bacon. Cook bacon until it's starts to render some of it's fat out before adding kale in step two.
2. Wash kale thoroughly then chop up roughly (depending on how big you want your bites). Throw 3 (or more) whole cloves of garlic in with bacon letting them sear briefly before adding all the kale on top.
3. Continue to cook kale down for a while, this can take up to 10 minutes for it to begin to reduce and soften. Add salt and pepper, shave parmesan on top generously. Add cherry tomatoes.
4. Once everything is melding together nicely, make a hole in the center of the pan, drizzle more olive oil if necessary, crack an egg over it. Cook egg until the white is solid but the yolk is still soft. At this point throw it all into a serving bowl with the kale and mix the egg. Add extra salt, pepper or parmesan to taste. Enjoy!
