Fresh from the Farm

It’s that time of year again when the farmers’ market is brimming with tasty treats, and our CSA is full of goodies fresh from the farm. As it was last year, our first couple boxes have been mostly various types of leafy greens and lettuces. The lettuce is always the easiest to fix…nothing beats a super-fresh salad with some grilled chicken or steamed shrimp. Some of the other greens take a bit more imagination. Luckily, Delvin Farms always sends out recipes with their emails of what to expect in the coming week.

Last year, Mike and I both had kale for the first time. We tried a couple recipes, but the kale chips were our favorite, and very easy to fix. This year we wanted to try something different, something that preferably didn’t require us to turn on the oven when our A/C was already working overtime to keep up with the 95-degree heat outside (in May!!).

We opted for kale bruschetta, and made the crostini in the toaster oven. The recipe was easy to put together. I do think we should have chopped our kale into smaller pieces to make it easier to spoon onto the crostini, but we also could have made our crostini from bigger bread.

Overall, this wasn’t my favorite recipe. I’m not a fan of cooked spinach, and this was very reminiscent of that. Mike thoroughly enjoyed it, however, and actually ate several bites with a spoon, no bread required. I would make it again for him, and possibly for guests I think would enjoy it, but it just wasn’t my favorite. I did think about trying it one more time and perhaps adding some crumbled cooked bacon to it. I think that, coupled with chopping it into smaller pieces, may go a long way to making it more to my liking.
Kale Bruschetta with Garlic & Parmesan


1 bunch curly green kale
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for brushing toasts
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
Large pinch red pepper flakes
Salt to taste
8 slices crusty Italian bread
Grated parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Wash the kale in cool water, cut off the fibrous stems, and chop. Add the kale to the boiling water with ½ teaspoon salt, and reduce the heat. Simmer, partially covered, for 5 to 7 minutes. Drain the kale in a colander. When cool enough to handle, squeeze the water out of the kale.

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over moderately low heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes, and sauté till fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the kale, raise heat to medium, and stir to coat. Sprinkle with salt to taste and keep warm.

Brush bread with olive oil and toast in the oven until lightly golden. Flip to toast the other side.
Spoon kale mixture onto the toasts, sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese, and serve.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Finally Fall

Image
On tonight's menu...Monday Night Football and Moroccan Carrot Soup!  That peeler is one of the cheapest and best kitchen gadgets I own! Nothing says Fall has arrived like football and soup, and since the temps around here finally dropped below the 80s, it was time to break out the soup pot. I first tried this carrot soup at my aunt's house several months ago, and I couldn't wait to make it again so Mike could try it, too. It's really easy to make, and I believe relatively healthful. I'm not sure where the original recipe came from, so consider this one, "From the Kitchen of Aunt Sheryl." I used Greek yogurt, and doubled the recipe so we could have leftovers for lunches. The recipe as listed says it will serve 4. Drizzling in the honey... Moroccan Carrot Soup 2 Tbl butter 1 cup chopped white onion 1 lb large carrots, peeled and chopped into ½-inch pieces 2½ cups low-salt chicken broth 1 Tbl honey 1 tsp fresh lemon juice ⅛ tsp ground allspice...
Read more

Not Above Bribery...

No new recipe today, folks (that will come tomorrow). Instead, I'm introducing a month-long "game," if you will. Here's the deal: 1. During the month of February, be sure to not only visit my blog, but to also post comments on my blog posts. 2. For every comment you make on my blog, you will have an entry in a drawing I'm holding. 3. On March 1st, I will choose one name from the hat. The winner will receive a free copy of Recipes Worth Sharing , a fantastic cookbook valued at $24.95 that I use often (remember the shrimp and grits I made?). That's all you have to do. The more comments you make, the more chances you have at winning. I will limit it to one Comment per blog post so we don't have people posting one word at a time or something equally crazy. Please use your best judgement. I hope you're as excited about this as I am. After all, who doesn't love FREE stuff?!
Read more

Butternut Squash Soup, Take 2

Image
A few days ago, I posted a recipe for a super-simple, super-scrumptious Butternut Squash Soup. Unaware of how many squash to buy for that particular dish, I bought 2 and ended up needing only 1. And so, here is Butternut Squash Soup, take 2. I know, I could make myriad other recipes with my squash, but it’s cold and rainy, and who doesn’t love soup on a cold and rainy day? This time I went for a more “gourmet” soup, Creamy Butternut Squash and Ginger-Apple Soup from ** Starfish Café: Changing Lives One Recipe at a Time . The basics are the same: Sauté some onion in butter. Add squash and broth, and purée everything when tender. The “gourmet” part of this comes in the addition of apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, saffron, and yogurt. Yummy indeed. Now, before you rush out to buy the ingredients and notice that saffron is crazy expensive, let me tell you something—saffron is crazy expensive. Don’t feel like you have to add it. Many recipes I read encourage using turmeric in place of saffron (...
Read more