Kale. What am I doing wrong?

[Anonymous]

The cafeteria at my job serves the most delicious steamed kale. It's pretty straightforward (I thought) - bit of garlic, some salt... I love it. So, I tried to cook it myself at home. Bitter and gross. What am I doing wrong???

[Anonymous]

Blanch it for 30 seconds first to take the bitterness out.

[Anonymous]

Are you sure they steam it? I really like kale stir fried with a bit of oil and garlic. When it is almost done you can throw in some balsamic vinegar. It is really tasty.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, pps. I'll try both techniques and see how it goes.

[Anonymous]

Wow! Sorry for that triple post. Dunno how it happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The cafeteria at my job serves the most delicious steamed kale. It's pretty straightforward (I thought) - bit of garlic, some salt... I love it. So, I tried to cook it myself at home. Bitter and gross. What am I doing wrong???

I think you are missing one important ingredient- oil or butter.

For mine, I steam/boil kale for about 3 minutes. Rinse & drain. Then in a separate pan, saute some chopped garlic in olive oil or butter (2-3 Tbsps). Add salt & toss it into the kale.

[Anonymous]

you can also lightly cover it with olive oil and bake- then it;s crispy and really delicious.. also- there is a kale soup on fine cooking.com that is super delicious..

[Anonymous]

If we are talking kale soup...try kale, potatoes, and sausage in a garlicky chicken broth. Oh my. To die for. Brown the sausage first, brown garlic a few moments, add diced potatoes and roughly torn up kale, saute a few moments then add the broth. Cook until potatoes are tender.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If we are talking kale soup...try kale, potatoes, and sausage in a garlicky chicken broth. Oh my. To die for. Brown the sausage first, brown garlic a few moments, add diced potatoes and roughly torn up kale, saute a few moments then add the broth. Cook until potatoes are tender.

I do something similar, but with cannellini beans instead of potato and spicy chorizo sausage. OMG YUM!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:you can also lightly cover it with olive oil and bake- then it;s crispy and really delicious.. also- there is a kale soup on fine cooking.com that is super delicious..

Bake uncovered for crispy or covered for not. Delicious either way. Liberal olive oil and crack a few cloves of garlic in the baking dish. Salt and pepper, 25 min at 375 or so and voila. Good luck op.

[cbright]

Anonymous wrote:Blanch it for 30 seconds first to take the bitterness out.

That's the secret!