Wednesday, December 14, 2011

What I've Learned About Kale (and Beets)

Italian Lacinto Kale, aka Tuscan Kale, aka delicious kale I'm growing now

I may not have planted much by way of fall garden, but I was eager to try my hand at a few crops. Here is what I learned:

1. Baby beets tast way, WAY better than the ones from the grocery store. I plucked mine when they were about the size of golf balls and I was blown away by the silky smooth texture and sweet flavor of them.

2. The beet greens really do taste just like Swiss chard when cooked. Eat them!

3. Not all kale is created equal. I had a major kale fail earlier in the year when I tried using some almost-bad curly kale from the grocery store in a raw kale salad. It was pretty bad. But freshly picked Tuscan kale from my garden is a whole different animal. Love it! (P.S. Caldo verde is a wonderful homey soup that also uses kale!)

4. Kale tastes good on pizza, particularly this one, adapted from The Kitchn. To top our typical tomato sauce/mozzarella pizza, we cooked up some bacon instead of sausage, drained off the grease, then sauteed our kale in the same pan with a dash of red pepper flakes. Sprinkled on some fresh garlic, baked, and voila - that's one tasty way to eat leafy greens!


4 comments:

  1. I've never tried kale on pizza before. That's a great tip-sneaky way to get more greens in. I never let the beet greens go to waste either. They're full of nutrition. Sometimes I juice them along with the beets. They're great.

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  2. This pizza just might make a kale lover out of me.

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  3. If at all possible, plucked fresh from your garden is the way to go. Gorgeous pizza!

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  4. I so agree that all kale s not equal,

    PS Have yet to try it on pizza. Hope to next year when I can begin growing my own again x

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me!