Ingredients
-
6 ozs
kale
(i used lacinato or dinosaur kale but i understand that the curlier stuff works, too, possibly even better)
-
1 tbsp
olive oil
-
sea salt
(to taste)
I could never get into kale. Heck, I’ve long been timid about greens in
general — the delicate ones like baby spinach and arugula were easy but
as soon as things got a little heavier, I got nervous. When I finally
found a respectable green I found palatable — Swiss chard, which I think
of as the green for spinach people — I went to town with it:
a tart,
a spaghetti dish and then
gratin.
But I still couldn’t warm to kale. Because I didn’t like the way it
tasted. And I don’t care if something is chock-full of vitamin A, C and
calcium, I don’t care if it makes you live longer or feel stronger or
fixes the budget deficit, I’ve got this hang-up wherein I won’t eat food
if it doesn’t
taste good to me. (My offspring is
a little less particular, it seems.) And kale just didn’t.
But in February, I began seeing a recipe for baked kale chips
flitting about the internet.
I’m not sure where it started (or re-started, as I see folks have
actually been making this for years), but I’m guessing with a
Dan Barber recipe in Bon Appetit that month.
His version used whole leaves and arranged them daintily in a pitcher;
the more rustic version I’d seen on blogs (and hooray for that) was
simple to de-stem the kale, cut or tear it up, toss it with a bit of oil
and bake it until crisp.
Yes,
crisp. I would never lie to you when it comes to chips,
as I take crackly crunch quite seriously. Baking kale transforms the
qualities I always loathed in kale — the dense bitterness — into
something impossibly light, with a nice depth of flavor from the oil and
salt. This isn’t a stewy stick-to-your ribs kale braise and it is not
something you eat because you
ought to, it’s something you’d eat because you
like it. Revolutionary stuff, people.
[Psst. And possibly even more so if you do this to it (
hat tip):]
Adapted from a bunch of inspiring places
1 bunch (about 6 ounces) kale (I used Lacinato or “Dinosaur” Kale but
I understand that the curlier stuff works, too, possibly even better)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt, to taste
Preheat oven to 300°F. Rinse and dry the kale, then remove the stems
and tough center ribs. Cut into large pieces, toss with olive oil in a
bowl then sprinkle with salt. Arrange leaves in a single layer on a
large baking sheet (I needed two because mine are tiny; I also lined
mine with parchment for easy clean-up but there’s no reason that you
must). Bake for 20 minutes, or until crisp. Place baking sheet on a rack
to cool.
Kale-Dusted Popcorn : If you’re making the chips with the
intention to grind them up for popcorn, I’d use less oil — perhaps half —
so they grind without the “powder” clumping. I ground a handful of my
chips (about half) in a mortar and pestle (well, actually the “pestle”
was MIA so I used the handle of an OXO reamer, not that anyone asked)
and sprinkled it over popcorn (1/4 cup popcorn kernels I’d cooked in a
covered pot with 1 1/2 tablespoons oil over medium heat, shaking it
about with potholders frequently). I seasoned the popcorn with salt. I
liked this snack, but I think
Parmesan and Kale-Dusted Popcorn would be even more delicious. Next time!
