Kale
After much experimentation…
One big head of kale
Raw honey
Two strips of bacon
Apple cider vinegar
Salt
Black pepper
Pull the kale. Wash the roots to put topsoil back. Cut the stems free from the stump. Compost the stump.
Wash the individual stalks, point down, to remove garden grit.
Put the bacon on to fry at medium heat in a large skillet.
With a sharp knife, aiming individual stalks downward, slash the foliage free of the stems by sliding the sharp edge of the knife down along the axis of the stems. They come loose cleanly and easily. Compost the stems.
Rinse again in a caulander.
Coarsely chop the kale foliage.
When the bacon is ready, dump the chopped kale, with the water that clings to it after rinsing, into the bacon and bacon fat.
Stir with a fork every couple of minutes.
When kale is tender, but not soggy, add a teaspoon of raw honey.
Stir again.
Add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar.
Add a half-teaspoon of salt.
Sprinkle liberally with black pepper.
Stir, remove from heat, and serve.
Feeds one as a meal. Makes a side dish for around four.
gdenby:
Mmm, honey instead of sugar. Nice touch. I guess you can tell the HOA that you’re working on getting rid of the garden patch.
gdenby
9 July 2007, 11:25 amHeide:
Cucumbers are plentiful this season. Here’s a recipe from Latin America shared by immigrant farm workers.
Cucumber Nectar Drink
6 large cucumbers
2 liters fresh water
½ cup sugar
plain yogurt (optional)
1 cup crushed ice
Peel cucumbers and slice. In electric blender, liquify cucumbers with 1 liter of water and sugar. Strain and transfer to glass pitcher, add remaining water and (if opted for) yogurt, and stir well. Add crushed ice, decorate with fresh mint (optional) and serve with a meal or on its own as a refreshing drink to take the edge off during hot summer days.
9 July 2007, 11:29 amAudrey:
A lazy gardening tip: Purslane is a low growing creeping succulent with red stems, usually considered an invasive weed in the US. In other parts of the world, people grow it for food. It’s good raw in salads, or cooked, like spinach.
The leaves are very high in Omega-3 fatty acids and the stems are high in vitamin C.
If you’re weeding it out of a garden, throw it into a salad bowl, or shove it in a sandwich. I’m starting to wonder why I’m wasting my time weeding that to make room for lettuce, when I could just harvest it instead.
(For proper ID, break a stem in half. If it gives off a milky substance instead of clear, it’s spurge, not purslane, and you don’t want to eat it.)
10 July 2007, 2:37 pmJohn:
Try adding a cup of your kale to a pot of mashed potatoes…a better ‘meal’…
22 July 2007, 12:54 am