There you go. I said it. Kale. Once totally foreign to me, it is a very welcome vegetable in our food garden.
We have tonnes of it because Kim insisted that I plant some more seedlings after the others had grown very large. I did what I was told of course 🙂 and put in another six Kale seedlings. We have at least a dozen very large Kale bushes in the front garden bed right now.
In fact, we have so much of the stuff, we are scouring the net for recipes to use it all up.
Kim picked a bowl of flower heads yesterday to cook as sprouting broccoli, and a swag of leaves for dinner.
Kale flower heads
We steam these flower heads. They are simply delicious, and so glad that we tried them, because the sprouting broccoli went to seed about four weeks ago. Not only do we love it, Kim said she had to fight off the swarm of bees just to get at them. They love the flowers too.
The leaves are so colourful, from whites, purples, light green, to dark greens, the leaves are all of various shapes, some obviously thicker in texture than others.
We strip out the tough centre vein and just used the leaves shredded in most meals.
So what was for dinner. Well, Kim cooked up Spicy Kale and Garlic Spaghetti. It was delicious, nutritious, and full of flavour. I’m talking amazing flavour.
I will share a few more Kale recipes this week. Tomorrow night I am cooking Bean soup with Kale and rustic garlic bread. We are looking forward to that one, however I think I will spice it up a bit and modify the recipe that I found. If it turns out okay, I will post it on the blog.
We like Kale so much that we will definitely plant these cultivars again next year.
Even though the punnet of seedlings were labeled as ornamentals, there is no reason why you cannot eat this amazing Brassica. We certainly have, and will be for the next few weeks. These colourful varieties are only a few of the many different types of kale that you can grow.
The great thing about Kale is that when it goes to seed, it is still very edible. The leaves don’t toughen like broccoli or cabbages do, or goes woody like cauliflower. It is just a great all-rounder.
So do yourself a favour, and get some kale in the ground when you have your cooler season. Super food or not, it is a great vegetable to have in your food garden.
Oh, and the Kale chips are to die for. We can’t get enough of those either!
Who else planted and ate Kale this season. Was it your first time, and what amazing meals did you use it in?
Kale is the best. I grew Tuscan and red Russian kale this year. I love the red Russian as the young leaves are soft enough to use as salad leaves. A bit older and I simply tear them up and then pour a kettle of just boiled water over them, then drain and dress with olive oil, salt and pepper. Great as a side to just about anything. Also goes well in stir fries, a handful in a bowl then top with casseroles (no need to cook). It also makes a good coleslaw style salad with a yoghurt and tamari dressing, finely sliced kale, shredded carrot and spring onions. Leave the dressing on it for an hour or more if you can to let the leaves soften a bit.
Gavin, I actually had kale salad for dinner today. I did not know that I can grow it in cooler weather which we will be getting soon, I will have to look for some seeds. Thanks for the heads up
I’ve used my Tuscan Kale in quiches, on pizza’s and just thrown into stews to enrich and nourish. I love the plant itself. So Ornamental.
Yup I’m growing kale and loving it! Ive been juicing it and using it in green smoothies, putting it in veggie tagines, and also using it to make my japanese savoury pancakes. Love it.
Oh and I also made chinese dumplings with my kale and added mushroom and tofu (recipe on my blog if you wanna try them out for something different!)
We like kale in a salad, stalk removed and sliced thin with a pear or two, cabbage and mint and parsley. Dressed with oil lemon and finely grated Parmesan, salt/pepper to taste, YUM !!