Cooking From a Box

Yesterday I decided to make a “Kale and White Bean Saute” with the huge bundle of kale from the box. Until recently I was not a big greens person, in fact the only green I would eat outside of what I think of as lettuce was Spinach. However, my husband and I decided this winter that we wanted to expand outside of our comfort zone with regards to food so we tried kale and I fell in love. Kale can be slightly bitter when paired with sweeter foods and flavors, it is truly wonderful.

The first thing I did with the kale was cut the leafy part of off the spine and rip those into pieces about 2 inches long. This left me with my biggest glass bowl overflowing with green goodness.

Next I washed and dried the leaves in four batches. The kale was already pretty clean, but with greens its better to be safe than sorry because dirt and sand have a way of slipping in. I’ve also learned that small batches, especially in my salad spinner, are better to thoroughly dry the greens. Wet greens = limp greens which are not tasty.

I sauteed onion, carrot, garlic, thyme, green chili powder, and canned great northern beans together to create a sweet flavor base for the kale:

And the started adding the kale. I flip everything around with tongs, adding a handful at a time until everything is incorporated and kale has turned a bright green, but still retains some texture.

The result was great. I had noticed when tasting the raw kale that this was sweeter than the kale I usually buy at the market or grocery store, and cooking it reinforced this opinion. While my recipe was good, it was the quality of the kale that made dinner wonderful and I hope to have more in the box next week.

We’re heading out to Great Country Farms this morning for more strawberries and to check out the farm, all in a heat index of 100 degrees plus, so it should be interesting. I’ll post pictures from the farm next.

Kale and White Bean Saute (I know this isn’t technically a saute, but I’m not sure what else to call it)

1 1/3 T Olive Oil
1 Onion diced
2 t Green Chili Powder, red would be fine if you don’t have green.
1 Carrot cut into pieces about twice the width and half the length of a matchstick
3 Cloves of Garlic
2 t fresh Thyme
1/4 t Salt
1/4 t Pepper
2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed
5 or 6 cups of Kale, pulled off the stem and cut into 2 inch pieces.

Heat oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Add onions and chili powder and saute until soft, approximately 3 minutes. Add carrots and cook for another 2 minutes. Add garlic, salt, pepper and thyme cook for approximately 30 seconds or until you can smell the garlic.

Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the beans. Cook for about 5 minutes, stiring occasionally, or until the flavors have completely come together.

Turn the heat back up to medium and pull the bean mixture to one side of the pan, add a couple of handfuls of kale to the empty side of the pan and begin to toss with the bean mixture using tongs. Add a handful of the additional kale at a time, tossing all the while. Continue to do this until all the kale is in the pan and the kale has wilted slightly and turned a bright green.