For the most part, our kitchen is more Big Ten than Ivy League.
Inspired by a sweatshirt Molly’s brother Charlie gave her for Christmas, though, I invited my family to spend the week at Kale University.
Lux et veritas.
We’ve long been kale fans in this house. I like the way it holds up in soup and salads, especially in packed lunches. I also like the way it tastes and its crazy nutritional value. A cup of cooked kale has 35 calories and 1,180% of your daily requirement of vitamin K. That’s not a typo, that’s a super food.
Given a choice, we both prefer curly kale to baby kale. I’ve learned that kale season peaks right now (as, hopefully, will our Packers).
So, this week I bought a big bunch, and had a little fun.
I am including two of the dishes that developed. Hope you enjoy them as much as we did.
Pizza Stuffed Mushrooms
Ingredients
1 large package common button mushrooms, cleaned and de-stemmed
1 large sweet onion
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
4 smoked Mozzarella sticks cut into four pieces
5 large leaves of kale
5 green olives
Penzeys Frozen Pizza seasoning (a Christmas gift we wanted to try out)
Olive Oil
Preheat oven to 375
Place mushroom caps on a jelly roll pan, cap side up.
Sautee onions and chopped mushroom stems in olive oil for three minutes or so, until onion is translucent. Add chopped kale and cherry tomatoes. Sprinkle with pizza seasoning. Cook for a few minutes more, until kale wilts. Do not over cook.
Spoon mixture into mushroom caps. Top each cap with a piece of mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with Pizza seasoning. Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese bubbles.
Pork Roast with Kale and Apples
Ingredients
1 boneless pork loin (Ours was 2.5 pounds)
Four apples, peeled and chopped
1 large sweet onion, chopped
1/4 cup leftover dried fruit from Christmas if you have it. Raisins if you don’t.
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 large leaves kale, chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
Olive Oil
Preheat oven to 350
Drizzle olive oil in a cast iron skillet. Brown pork loin on both sides over high heat. Season on both sides. Add minced garlic, onions and apples. Sautee for two or three minutes.
Remove from heat. Add dried fruit. Cover and place in the oven. Cook for 45 minutes (depending on the weight of your pork loin).
Remove from heat and add chopped kale. Cover and let the pork rest and the kale steam, about 10-15 minutes.
Serve.