What to do with baby kale?

[VorJoshigan]

I just bought 6 heads of baby kale at Costco yesterday. As a bachelor, WTH do I do with 6 heads of baby kale? I've googled recipes, & I'm leaning towards the Bobby Flay sautee recipe, but I was wondering if any of y'all had any personal experience you could share.

[unicornassassin]

Soups, stirfrys, there's always kale chips, too. You could google a recipe for kale chips. I've never done it, but apparently they're fabulous.

[SwimBikeRun]

There are about a million different raw salads you can make with baby kale, but my personal favorite creation and super simple: saute the baby kale in a little bit of olive oil with garlic, shallots, salt, pepper, and some crushed red pepper flakes. Separately roast some sweet potato. Toss the kale and sweet potato together, squeeze in some fresh lemon juice to give it an acidic pop, and enjoy! If you want to be adventurous, bake a ripe plantain with your sweet potato in the oven, then chop it up and add it to the mixture.

[notanartmajor]

Blend it into a smoothie and try not to taste it.

[RaeVynn]

Green smoothies for the win!

Throw in the blender:

1 banana

1 scoop protein powder

1 cup frozen fruit, like berries or pineapple

a big handful of baby kale.

Pour in water up to about the 3 cup line.. and blend!

It's amazing.

[Timmy M]

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Joes-Special-105866 something like this but instead of spinach use kale (tho i leave it in a bit longer than the spinach and squeeze half a lemon onto it to knock of the bitterness (i use curly kale btw))

[bigm141414]

Bacon grease + kale = stir-fried goodness.

[Jessicatmt]

Kale baked until crispy with just a spray of olive oil and some cayenne pepper! My mouth is literally watering right now thinking about kale chips. You can put down all of the kale in one sitting prepping it this way, it's really addictive.

[navywife]

Kale chips, sprinkle olive oil and seasoning salt or garlic salt on kale, put in 250 degree oven for about 20 minutes, or until it's dried. Yummo! Even better though....cook bacon, drain all but 1 tbsp of bacon grease from pan, crumble bacon, cook a finely chopped onion in bacon grease with bacon, add kale and saute. Once kale is soft, add red pepper flake, salt and pepper to taste. OR, at this point, add two cups of chicken stock and let simmer for about 20 minutes to an hour. Yummy kale soup.

One big suggestion, though. Kale is addictive. IF you find you are eating a lot of it, invest in a good sized box of Gas X and a bottle of Febreeze.

[NukeTheUnicorns]

Return it to its mother.

[VorJoshigan]

Thanks for the suggestions everybody. NukeTheUnicorns, (and by the way, what does everybody have against unicorns? They're quite tasty.) What would be the point of kidnapping the kale if I was just gonna take it right back to it's momma? If I didn't have the ability to look it up, I woulda thought y'all were trying to put one over on me with the kale chips. Weird.

Tonight, I scrounged a piece of slow cooked pork tenderloin out of the freezer from about a year ago, tossed it in a pan, melted a little butter & proceeded to sautee the kale in this mixture. Ahhh the life of a bachelor. I'm not sure if I would do this again, but it wasn't bad. That, along with a naked green machine, was dinner.

One head of kale down, 5 to go. I'll let you know what I do next.

[oystergirl]

Salt and olive oil rubbed wilted kale is so good from my raw foods days! Kale is super delicious! Enjoy! so good for you!

[epaleocookbooks]

Soups, stirfrys, there's always kale chips, too. You could google a recipe for kale chips. I've never done it, but apparently they're fabulous.

Kale chips are pretty easy. You just tear your kale, spread it on a baking sheet and drizzle it with olive oil and salt. Then bake them at 350 for 10 minutes.

You can also make scrambled egg and kale tacos. I put the recipe on my blog. I'm a paleo dieter, so my recipe calls for lettuce leaves instead of tortillas, but you can use a tortilla, pita or flatbread. Here's the recipe.

[catspaw]

Recipe here.

[Swinging_Jarnbjorn]

Kale chips are pretty easy. You just tear your kale, spread it on a baking sheet and drizzle it with olive oil and salt. Then bake them at 350 for 10 minutes.

Honestly, I don't even tear my kale. I like my chips with handles.

[VorJoshigan]

So... this is embarrassing to admit.

The green leafy things I bought? They were "Artisan Lettuce" - specifically Gem, Oak, and Tango red and green varieties. They must have been on the shelf right next to the kale. I worked in the college cafeteria where we used adult Kale as ornamentation in the salad bar, so I should have known better, but obviously I was especially oblivious last week.

I thought when I first went to cook/sauté/wilt the greens that this was especially wussy kale, but I'd never actually seen baby Kale before. Same with the bitterness - I figured baby kale was just especially mild. If/when I get some actual honest to god Kale, I will update with my experience.

I feel like I rolled for wisdom with the wrong set of dice.

Thank you all for your assistance in coming up with ideas.

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[Shoshie]

OK, so I know you didn't have baby kale, but I have to contribute this recipe! My favorite use of baby kale leaves is in a "massaged" or marinated kale salad. Used 2:1 acid to oil-- I usually use a combination of apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, and olive oil. Throw in some salt, pepper, and crushed garlic. Mush it all up with your hands until the kale is supple. It should turn a deeper green and lose bitterness. This recipe works best with flat kale varieties, like dinosaur/nero di toscana/palm tree kale or red russian kale. If you don't feel like getting your hands dirty, you can also leave the kale overnight in the marinated. Throw in some chopped mushrooms if you do that. They'll get "cooked" by the acid. Throw on some pine nuts and you have a mighty good and nutritious salad.