Kale from the Garden

This is our first summer harvest of delicious, nutricious organic kale.  FHFB asked me to cook something yummy out of it for an early Father's Day dinner on Friday evening, since we were busy with a graduation party on Saturday and Father's Day at my dad's house all day Sunday.  I have it placed on our porch table before bringing it in for a good washing. 

You can see our hammock in the background - which is really where I'd rather be than washing kale, but FHFB was so excited about getting this into the house and onto the stove that I didn't have any time to think about lounging on the hammock.  Actually, that hammock was a Father's Day gift for FHFB many years ago. 

A couple of weekends ago, FHFB and I took cooking classes up at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.  He took a grilling course, where today's recipe with the kale is from.  Although the recipe called for beet greens, Chef Velie told FHFB that kale would work great as well. 

Beans and Greens Sauté

Makes 6 servings

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 tsp minced garlic

10 cups coarsely chopped beet greens or kale

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 tsp salt, or to taste

1/2 tsp ground black pepper, or to taste

2 cups cooked or canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

2 tsp malt vinegar, or to taste

Prepare this savory sauté in a cast iron skillet right on the grill while you grill the pork, or make it ahead of time on the stovetop. If you can't find beet greens, substitute spinach, kale, escarole, collard greens, or turnip greens.

Heat a large sauté pan over the hottest part of the fire or a burner set at medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and heat until the oil shimmers. Add the garlic and move the pan or turn down the heat. Sauté the garlic, stirring frequently, until it is tender and aromatic, about 3 minutes.

Add the beet greens and cook, stirring and tossing briskly with a wooden spoon to coat the greens evenly with the oil. When the greens have cooked down and are a vivid green color, add the broth. Season with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and a pinch of the pepper.

Bring the broth to a simmer, then add the beans and cook, stirring frequently, until the greens are fully wilted and the dish is very hot. Season to taste with the malt vinegar or balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper.

http://www.ciachef.edu/default.asp

The best, best, best part of this meal was that FHFB surprised me by flying our son home from North Carolina for the weekend!  My son is a vegetarian, so this dish was perfect for him as well.  It was so wonderful to see him on the porch when I got home on Friday afternoon.  I had baked some Rustic Rhubarb Tarts from the Smitten Kitchen blog for dessert and had to run out for some vanilla ice cream (the perfect addition to the very delicous tarts by the way!  I also made peach and blueberry tarts with the same corn flour/meal dough - yummy!)

The Grilling cookbook that FHFB received as part of taking the course came with this recipe and displayed it as a side dish to barbequed pork ribs, which looked like a really delicious pairing.  We think this dish tasted better the second day, when all of the flavors had a chance to meld together.  I used canned cannellini beans, but Chef Velie used black-eyed peas that had soaked overnight. 

Join me for Summer Sundays at The Tablescaper. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Ciao, bella!