In continuation with our obsession of deliciously nutrient packed kale, I made this for dinner. Greek style marinated pork and kale three ways; baked into chips, crushed and used as a seasoning, and their stems sautéed. One may think that this was over load, but I actually find kale to have a very neutral and pleasant flavour, something that can be enhanced and flavoured with just the slightest touch of whatever you desire.
Plus, it's super pretty with it's dark green frilly-ness!
Oven roasted red skinned potatoes with kale dust. The "dust" was an was an accident and so I improvised, but the results were tasty so that's all that matters. I started off by making kale chips, but with my first batch, I over salted. As I mentioned in my post about kale chips, you must use a very light hand when seasoning! I learned that after two trays and a tear and a half. So being one who refuses to waste food, what better way to utilize this green saltiness than to crush them up and toss starchy bits into it?!
It was simple, just grab a handful and rubbed your hands together. Instant edible dust. :)Onwards!
Kale stems sautéed with garlic and red onions. I wanted to use all parts of the kale, not just the leaves. After all, we bought the leafy green by the bunch- why not consume all parts of it? There's no recipe, it's that easy!
Chop up the stems into roughly 1 inch pieces, heat a pan on medium high
with a pat of butter and a glug of olive oil. Add in slices red onion,
a couple cloves of crushed garlic and cook until it starts to brown. Add stems, along with a small splash of broth (or water) and cover to steam for 5 minutes. Uncover and give it a good stir allowing remaining liquid to evaporate. Gently salt and pepper to taste.
That little bit of butter really gave the kale a nice oomph! It was creamy tasting and just as addictive as their leafy counterpart. I imagine it would be wonderful in a cold salad dish with pasta or quinoa! Mmm...
As for the protein part of the meal, I made Greek marinated pork. The marinade had olive oil, lemon juice, fresh garlic, oregano, rosemary and thyme in it and I didn't measure. I cut a hunk of pork butt meat into 1.5 inch cubes and let it party a little. A couple hours or so.
Ideally, I would have used a grill to cook, but we all know by now how I am without such luxury at the moment. Though I do have a...George Foreman Grill...but it's not the same. Enter my sautée pans! I like the non-stick variety as it makes clean up easier and those yummy caramelized bits get picked up by the cooked meat at the end. But if you're not into that, GET OUT.
Just kidding! Use whatever you have or want!
Heat the pan on medium high, add pork cubes leaving space between each one. Over crowding is bad. It's bad at the mall and it's no different in the kitchen! Turn them every so often so all sides get a little colour. You know the pork is done when you slice open one of the bigger pieces and it's cooked.
...That's how I do it anyways. It works.
I promise that this will not be the last time you'll see or read about KALE on this blog. I'm actually craving some right now. Weird, right? Who craves for vegetables? Ha!Happy Thursday!
