Recipes

ON THIS PAGE:

• Kale Recipes
• Garlic Scape Recipes
• Basil Pesto

Kale Recipes

I first discovered kale when I lived in New England during graduate school. Though this leafy green can be a little polarizing on taste, I love it. Below are some of my go-to recipes. In working with kale, the entire plant is edible. Personally, I don’t much care for the stems as I find them a little tough, so I usually remove them. But some people like them!

Sautéed Kale

This is one of my favorite ways to have kale, mostly because it’s so simple, yet makes a very tasty side dish

• 1-2 bunches kale
• 1-3 cloves garlic
• Soy sauce (to taste)
• 1-2 tsp oil of choice

Have your ingredients prepared ahead of time: Shred or coarse chop the kale. Crush, dice, or grate the garlic (as you prefer).

Add your oil to a large skillet and get it hot. Add the kale, garlic, and soy sauce (I usually give a generous splash around the pan, on top of the kale). As the kale starts to wilt (usually 1-2 minutes), start to stir the mixture to ensure even cookie. The kale will wilt and cook down considerably; when it has wilted to your satisfaction, remove from heat and serve.

Kale Salad

I don’t recall where I found this recipe, but the printout I have attributes it Julia Moskin. I have adapted it slightly

• fresh lemon juice (2-4 lemons)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 c olive oil (original recipe calls for 1 1/2 c., but I’ve found this makes way too much dressing)
• 4-6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 c sliced almonds (optionally toasted)
• 2-3 bunches kale
• 1-1 1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 apple, chunked up

Blend together the lemon juice, salt, olive oil, and garlic and allow to marinate while you prepare the other ingredients.

Remove kale stems and shred or chop up the leaves.

Toss together the kale, almonds, and apple. Dress with the lemon-oil mixture (original recipe says to remove the garlic, but I like to leave the pieces in for an extra kick) and toss together. Top with cheese. Can be stored in a covered container in the fridge for several days. Original recipe says to dress with the lemon-oil mixture right before serving, but I’ve found it’s better to let the dressing soak in for at least an hour or two – or up to overnight!

Garlic Scape Recipes

Garlic scapes are considered a delicacy in several Asian cuisines – and if you’ve never had them (especially if you’re a garlic lover like me), then your life has been incomplete! You can use garlic scapes the same way you’d use garlic cloves. It has a slightly lighter, “greener” taste, but will still give you that garlic-goodness. However, there are a few recipes that can really only be made with garlic scapes – and that means you can only make them in the spring, when scapes are in season.

Garlic Scape Pesto

• 5-6 oz garlic scapes (~a bunch if you bought them from me)
• handful of nuts of choice
• 1/3-1/2 c. Parmesan cheese (grated)
• Up to 1/2 c. olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste (I start with 1/8 – 1/4 tsp each and add more as needed, but do what feels right for you)

Cut the scapes into 1-2″ pieces and place in a food processor along with the nuts, cheese, salt, pepper, and a splash of oil. Cover and turn on processor and slowly drizzle in more oil until the pesto sauce reaches the desired consistency. (Personally, I like mine a little thick, but some people prefer it a bit more liquidy/oily.) Taste and adjust the salt and pepper accordingly.

Minty Garlic Scape Soup

• 4 T unsalted butter
• 1 medium leek, chopped/diced
• 1/2 lb garlic scapes, chopped/diced
• 1 Qt water
• 1 medium potato, chopped
• 1/3 c. mint leaves, minced
• 1/4 c. parsley leaves, minced
• salt, to taste
• Sour cream or crème fraîche, for garnish

Saute the leek and scapes in butter over medium heat for about 6 minutes. Add the water and potato and bring the whole thing to a simmer; simmer for 25 minutes. Remove from heat and blend with an immersion blender, then blend in the mint, parsley, and salt. Garnish and serve.

Basil Pesto

Pesto is one of my favorite things about summer. It’s good on pasta, mixed with vegetables (try it spread on a sweet potato), on chicken – the possibilities are abundant. I often will make a giant batch of it and then freeze it in ice cube trays. Once frozen, I’ll pop the cubes out into another container for storage and I can have pesto any time I like, even when basil isn’t in season (each cube is 2 T, so it’s also easy to measure out what I need – just pull out the number of cubes and let thaw on the counter for an hour or so).

When most people think of “pesto”, they are referring to basil pesto. This is usually what I mean as well, but technically a pesto is simply a thick sauce made from some sort of leaf and ground up with a few other ingredients. I’ve given another example above of garlic scape pesto (one of my other favorites), but I’ve also seen recipes that include cilantro, carrot tops, and other leaves. I think it’s really only limited by one’s taste preferences. Further, the other base ingredients can be swapped out as well. There are also numerous ways to make basil pesto, and I encourage you to play with the ingredients and proportions until you find what works for you. Below is my favorite version (though you’ll notice my amounts are estimates — I often start out eye-balling it and then taste and adjust as I go)

• a generous bunch (or two!) of basil – just the leaves (removing the leaves can be a bit time consuming); I usually fill up my food processor with leaves and adjust all the other ingredients accordingly
• Garlic cloves – usually I use most of a head if I’ve filled my food processor up with leaves
• A generous dusting (maybe 1/3-1/2 c?) of grated parmesan cheese
• A handful of nuts (traditional pesto uses pine nuts, which I love, but they are often expensive; I’ve found that walnuts, pecans, and cashews are all delicious substitutes and far cheaper)
• 1/2 t. (estimated) of salt and a generous dose of pepper (be careful on the salt as parmesan is a salty cheese – remember you can always add more, but it’s very difficult to remove salt!)
• Optionally, 1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (if you like making it spicy)
• Run a quick pour of olive oil over the top of it all

Drop everything into a food processor, cover, and blend. I usually need to add more olive oil as it blends up – doing so while the processor is running helps me find the sweet spot on the amount. You can make it as thick or liquidy/oily as you like. And trust me on tasting it and adjusting – good cooks are regularly tasting their creations.