Cookaholics Bulletin Board

This is for Fuzzy, since he couldn't get the kale chips right. These are 2 kale recipes that are truly easy and great. The first "Easy Kale Quiche" is from Kenji on SeriousEats and is really easy to make, I've served it for both brunch and dinner and substituted Swiss chard and spinach without any difficulty. The second is a raw kale salad that really works -it's an old one from Bon Appetit that's going the rounds now that kale is "in". My CSA delivers some type of green every week so I'm working on expanding my repertoire (I do love my ricer now even more for squeezing)- love to hear others' ideas.

Easy Kale Quiche

Ingredients
• 1 large bunch (about 1 1/2 pounds) kale, thick stalks discarded, leaves roughly chopped
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups half and half
• 2 whole eggs
• 4 ounces grated gruyère or Comté cheese
• 1/8th teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 slices high quality sandwich bread or rustic country bread, crusts removed
• 2 tablespoons butter

Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to center position and preheat oven to 350°F. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add kale and press down with a wire-mesh strainer to submerge. Cook until barely tender but still bright green, about 3 minutes. Transfer kale to a colander and run under cold water until chilled. Squeeze out excess moisture then transfer kale to the center of a clean dish towel. Roll up towel to encase the kale, then twist the ends to wring out excess moisture. Transfer dried kale to a cutting board and chop into 1- to 1/2-inch pieces. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. Combine half and half and eggs in a large bowl and whisk until homogenous. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and a pinch of black pepper. Add kale, cheese, and nutmeg and mix with hands or a large spoonto combine.
3. Place bread in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until fine crumbs are achieved. Grease a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate or a cast iron skillet with better. Add bread crumbs and rotate plate while shaking to coat bottom and sides. Discard extra crumbs. Pour kale filling into prepared pie plate.
4. Place pie plate on a rimmed aluminum baking sheet and bake until center is just barely set but still jiggles when touched, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool at least 15 minutes before serving. Quiche can be served warm, at room temperature, or straight out of the fridge.

Kale Salad with Pinenuts, Currents, & Parmesan

2 tablespoons dried currants
7 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar, divided
1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 bunches Tuscan kale (about 1 pound), center ribs and stems removed, leaves thinly sliced crosswise
2 tablespoons pine nuts, lightly toasted
Parmesan cheese shavings

Place currants in small bowl; add 5 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar. Let soak overnight. Drain currants.
Whisk remaining 2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar, rice vinegar, honey, oil, and salt in large bowl. Add kale, currants, and pine nuts; toss to coat. Let marinate 20 minutes at room temperature, tossing occasionally. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle cheese shavings over salad and serve.

Lindsay,

The Other Woman and I reverse-engineered a salad from Farmstead restaurant in Napa:

Wilted Kale Salad with Cheese Crisps and Hot Pepper

1 or 2 bunches Tuscan cabbage ("dinosaur kale"), about 2 quarts prepped
2-3oz parmegiano or similar cheese
1/4 tsp ground hot pepper, preferably African Pequin
1 lemon
1 tbs regular olive oil
2 tbs very good olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

Wash and completely dry the kale. Stem it and cut it into 1/2" wide ribbons. You should have a couple quarts of shredded kale at this point.

Heat the regular olive oil in a wide, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the kale, tossing actively, until it just starts to wilt, about 3 minutes. Put the kale in a large, wide bowl and allow to cool.

Make a cheese crispy: grate the cheese fine; you should have around 1 cup. Heat a dry nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Sprinkle the grated cheese in an even layer over the bottom of the pan. Heat until all of the cheese melts into one big dark-brown lattice, 3 to 5 minutes. With a large plastic spatula, carefully lever out of the pan and set aside to cool.

Drizzle the good olive oil over the kale. Sprinkle with juice from the lemon (around 2 tsp). Sprinkle lightly with the salt and the hot pepper. Break up the cheese crispy into pieces. Toss the salad.

Serve immediately.

Notes: the cheese can be any seriously aged cheese which is very low moisture but not terribly salty: parmigiano-reggiano, aged asiago, American parmesean, or Sonoma Dry Jack.