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
Pork Roast with Kale and Apples
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.
Serve.