Sometimes you need to eat healthy. Lots of fruit and vegetables and green tea and organic free-range eggs and the like. And sometimes you need a big bowl of something horribly bad for you, preferably including cream and butter. And sometimes you luck out and get both in the same bowl.
I'm a big fan of creamed spinach, but I wasn't so sure about using kale instead. I mean, it's nothing against kale. I pretty much haven't met a vegetable I didn't like. Except lima beans. But I digress. I love all vegetables, so I would totally eat a bowl of kale. But it just didn't sound right upstaging spinach. Except it WAS right. Kale makes a fabulous bowl of creaminess, especially since it keeps a little bit of its crunch. So it's not all goo. You can actually identify that you are eating a vegetable. And that definitely relieves the conscience. At least slightly.
Creamed Kale
From Oui, Chef blog
2 bunches Lacinato kale, washed, dried, stemmed, and cut into ribbons
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium yellow onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup heavy cream
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Fill a large bowl with ice water (an ice bath) and set it aside.
Set a large stock pot full of salted water to boil over high heat. Add the kale ribbons to the boiling water and blanch until slightly tender, about 3 to 4 minutes. Scoop the kale from the water and toss it into the ice bath to stop the cooking and set the color. Let cool, then drain the kale in a large colander. Squeeze any excess water out of the kale and set it aside.
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat and add the minced onion. Cook until translucent, then add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook another 2 minutes. Add the kale and the cream and turn the heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the cream thickens to a sauce-like consistency, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and remove from the heat.
Makes 4 servings
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