steak au poivre/spinach and mushrooms

As I think of what to write about this very traditional "meat and potatoes" type meal (literally), I realize just how infrequently I cook beef. That's healthy, I suppose, but also kind of a shame because I love meat and I love steak and ribs and all that good stuff. This meal, in particular, would totally be right at home on the menu of a steakhouse, albeit one with some heavy French influences. Like Les Halles.

raw kale salad with walnuts, pecorino, lemon and mushrooms/balsamic blackberry juniper ravioli

My first couple of seasons in the food co-op, I was not exactly what you would call a kale fan. The curly leaves and woody stems would totally languish in the fridge for weeks, and was always in danger of wilting and yellowing and even getting thrown out. I had no idea what I was supposed to do with the stuff, to be honest, and even I had a hard time finding many kale recipes online. Oh how times have changed.

grilled mustard chicken with scallions/shredded kale salad with avocado and tomatoes

So it's a rare opportunity that I get to grill anything, being that I am afraid that I would set the roof of my building on fire were I ever to follow through on my dream of dragging a webber up there. Therefore, I was really excited when my brother suggested we commander mom and dad's grill one evening and throw a barbeque for our friends back in August, before he went back up to Cobleskill for school.

Of course, that failed to take into account that our parents live an hour from the city, and that none of my friends were going to come out after a long week of work for a Friday night dinner party. So instead Nathan and Matt and I cooked everything for Mom and Dad instead. I think they were pretty happy to get to eat all the good stuff we made, and it was a really nice family meal, on a beautiful cool summer night, out in the backyard, crickets chirping. Our friends definitely missed out!

caldo verde

My friend Tony suggested I make a caldo verde soup with all my food co-op kale. My only regret was that it took so long to follow his advice.




My family came over for dinner after work one night back in July, right before I left for a glorious two and a half weeks of vacation in the California sun. I thought that this soup would be super easy and ready in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, the potatoes decided to be difficult and take two hour to cook, which was bizarre, but other than that this dinner came together quite nicely.

Caldo verde is a Portuguese soup or stew, and I used this recipe from Mario Batali. I spent the night before simmering a big pot of chicken stock and getting all my potatoes and kale chopped up and ready to go, so the next night all I had to do was chop and sautee the onion and garlic, and then add the broth and potatoes and let that pot go to work.

spicy kale tomato sauce/baked tilapia with breadcrumbs

What happens when you defrost some of last summer's tomato sauce and toss it with cute little tennis racket pasta and leftover kale that you had stir fried with red pepper flakes and red wine vinegar? A nice little pasta dish with a spicy kick is what happens. Definitely nothing fancy, but also one of those cases where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.



And what can you serve that with, you ask? Well how about a little tilapia fillet, lightly seasoned and sprinkled with some scallions, breadcrumbs and a drizzle of olive oil? Just bake it for about ten minutes in a 350˚ oven, and you'll get a nice moist, flakey piece of fish. Not terribly exciting, but hey, it's an easy weeknight dinner and I happen to think it's a pretty tasty fish preparation.

baked kale chips

hey it's baked kale chips

This is another one of those things that I probably shouldn't even both blogging about because it's been so extensively covered by other food writers, most of whom are way better at this than I am. (This is normally where I would give you a series of links demonstrating just how saturated the blogosphere is with this recipe, except that a: I almost typed blogoshop, which sounds like a vaguely terrifying place, and b: I sliced open my left pinky cutting brussel sprouts off the stalk tonight so I am typing with only nine fingers.)

Well pinky be damed, I am still going to tell you about these kale chips anyway. I can hear Nathan complaining already, but I have my reasons. Firstly, I don't really think my "audience" is reading any other food blogs, so I expect this will still be new to all five of you who are here. Secondly, I'm not writing this blog to get a deal writing a cookbook of my original recipes. I'm writing this blog to keep a personal record of what I'm cooking. What worked, what didn't, what I loved, where I got all my recipes... In other words, it's not about you, dear reader, it's about me.

But seriously, even without these reasons, and even if this wasn't pretty tasty, I'd probably have blogged about this just because it looked so cool. My baked kale chips, lightly oiled and salted, were not only an excellently crispy snack. They were like a lovely plate of fallen autumn leaves!

As for this recipe, the amount of attention it's gotten is somewhat ridiculous. My theory about the popularity of baked kale chips is that they've taken off because everyone is joining a CSA these days. Food co-ops tend to give out a lot of kale, which is not exactly the world's tastiest veggie. Baked kale chips are crispy and salty, which everyone loves, and they don't really taste like kale anymore. Hardly a revelation, for sure, but still a marked improvement on some more steamed or stir-fired kale.

Plus, check out how cool these look! Like fall on a plate. With Thanksgiving around the corner and piles of freshly fallen leaves on the street, it's hard not to get a smile from eating something that looks so seasonal.


a cookie tray of baked kale leaves

Believe it or not, these peeled right off the baking sheet, and stayed pretty much in one piece. If you really must know, I followed this recipe from the Smitten Kitchen. Happy kale chipping!

minestrone

As I've discussed, kale is my least favorite food co-op veggie. I never know what to do with it, and it's always disappointing to get it from the food co-op.

I volunteered for a couple hours during distribution recently, and there were actually several people there lamenting the lack of greens this season. While I was in a different co-op last year, and was not among the members who complained about getting too many greens, I had to admit that I shared their sentiment. When I explained that I never knew what to do with all that kale, one woman suggested cooking it in oil with lots of garlic, adding chicken stock, red pepper flakes, cannellini beans and pasta to make a minestrone soup. When she put it like that, it sounded pretty good!


minestrone soup

I did pretty much exactly what she told me to. I used kale and beet tops, (which made it turn pink) as my greens, and threw in some carrot rounds as well. Nathan told me that minestrone is supposed to have tomatoes in it, so I tossed in some leftover tomato sauce. Then after it had been simmering for awhile, we tasted it. Nathan was worried that the chicken broth was too bland, so I told him to add some more red pepper flakes. He did NOT stop dumping them in when I said and thus the soup was far too hot, but STILL managed to be a little bland. Not terrible, but not that great. Next time I'll use a legit recipe, or maybe just add some onions. Also, I used canned beans and Nathan convinced me not to rinse off the bean gunk. That was probably a mistake. I think the beans tasted a little funky, especially on the reheat, and I've never had that problem with canned beans that I've rinsed.


spicy minestrone topped with grated romano cheese

fried soft shell crab with rice and creamed kale

crispy soft shell crab

One food blog that I really admire is Caviar and Codfish. I found it back in late March, whilst trying to find the recipe for The Red Cat's phenomenal bacon chard pie. While I never did find that recipe, I've been following Robin's postings at Caviar and Codfish on and off ever since. The pictures are absolutely beautiful and the food always sounds amazing. Two of her more recent entries involve soft shell crab, something I like but would never thought of cooking myself.

Fast forward to late June. My dad and I are in Harlem, enjoying some quality father-daughter bonding time. As we walk down 125th st to Dinosaur BBQ, we pass specialty grocery store Citarella, and my eye is drawn to a sign proclaiming, "we have soft shell crab!"

Two days later, with Nathan away in Italy, I decide to skip my usual Tuesday movie night and try some soft shell crab. At $5.99 a piece, they aren't particularly cheap, but since it's just me, I only need one. Cooking the crab is incredibly easy. I dredge it in a mixture of salt and pepper, flour and a little cornmeal and pan fry it in hot melted butter for three minutes on each side.

As for the accompaniments, I decide to make some rice and follow Robin's lead and serve my crab with creamed spinach. However, I've got no spinach. What I do have is kale. Kale that has been sitting in my fridge taunting me for weeks. It's getting yellower and yellower, and I know if I don't eat it soon, it will die out of spite. Maybe, instead of the spinach, I could cream kale? First google hit: Bobby Flay. This could be just crazy enough to work...

I dice a shallot and cook it in melted butter until it is nice and soft. Then I add a spoonful or two of flour, and stir that around for a few minutes. Then I pour in some cream, and let that thicken as I stir it. A few sprinkles of nutmeg, and I am really to add my steamed chopped kale. I mix it all together, season with salt and pepper, and it's ready to go. But how does it taste?

AHA! I have discovered a way to cook kale that I actually like! Of course, a load of butter and cream will make most things taste ok, but still. Maybe I'm starting to come around on kale. I think the reason I find kale so off putting is that it really doesn't look like a vegetable. It looks like vegetation. And sure enough, there are varieties of kale that are purely ornamental. Something about the thick stems seems woody, although I suppose they aren't really so bad. If I treat kale like I would spinach or chard, maybe I'll like it more. Maybe we can even be friends.

And how was the crab, you ask? Pretty much awesome. It was crispy and yummy and wow soft shell crab is good. There was ONE thing I thought was weird though. You're supposed to clean soft shell crab by cutting off the eyes and the top of the head and emptying out the organs, or whatever. The fish dudes at Citarella said they would do this for me, and they certainly were off in the back doing something with it before they wrapped it up for me to take home. However, when I cut into my crab, a huge amount of light green liquid oozed out of the head, seeping into my kale and rice. I was worried that they didn't clean it properly, or that I didn't cook it long enough, but the flesh was all very white and firm, so I just ate it, goo and all. It was delicious, if unsightly. I asked Robin if this was normal, and she wrote back said it was just tomalley and internal fat, akin to the green goo you find in lobsters. I was glad to know there was nothing amiss with my dish, and learned a bit about crabs to boot!


creamed kale over rice with a soft shell crab