Snow and Curly Kale

We had some snow.

Nothing compared to other parts of the world, but in Britain - our transport service cannot cope and everything comes to a halt.  And because of where I live, out in the sticks.  Transport is often delayed and even cancelled, so not wanting to be stranded in between home and work - I sought permission to work from home on Friday, but D was not so lucky he had to go into work. 

I decided to step out into the cold to get some nice photographs, but ended up picking up some greens for our dinner. 

There is not much in my allotment garden plot at the moment.  Just some Rainbow Chard.

 Some black kale and curly kale. 

I am sharing this little harvest with Dave who hosts Harvest Monday at his blog Our Happy Acres.  

Hazelnut and Kale Pesto

I made myself smile today.  I went into a bookshop in town during my lunch break.  Now and again, I will frequent this High Street bookshop, just to see what new vegetarian and vegan cookbooks they have in stock.  Whilst I was looking, this man that would nowadays be described as a Hipster, though the word hipster emerged in the 1930 for underground Black musicians, mostly jazz musicians 'in the know' about emerging sub-culturea and trends.  

Anyway, I digress, I heard him yell out to one of the workers 'Do you have any vegetarian or vegan cookbooks?'.  The girl came over and looked at the shelf a bit bewildered.  I couldn't help myself and said I come here often and I can see one there , there and two there.  In fact that one is good.  He looked at the girl, and said 'Thanks anyway' and  thanked me, surprisingly picking the one that I recommended.  Just made me smile.  I should be working in the cookbook section of this shop or in the library.  I think I would love it.  

Okay back to this Hazelnut and Kale Pesto.  I do know this is not really a pesto as pesto is traditionally made with basil and pine-nuts, but celebrity chefs, food writers, recipe developers and food bloggers with hundred, thousands and millions of followers like to dub things and those are accepted like call a dip Hummus or Falafels when it is made without chickpeas, but when a blogger like me does it people take umbrage.  Why?!  Because I am a small time blogger without a big following...and therefore without endorsement.
The Saveur Magazine Walnut Pesto
Martha Steward Parsley and Hazelnut Pesto
River Cottage - Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall Almond Pesto
Jack Monroe Kale Pesto

Still I love how vibrant and green this Hazelnut and Kale Pesto looks, very festive. I liked the nutty undertones.  This Pesto, like any other pesto is extremely versatile.  So far I 've used t as a sandwich spread, a dip and the traditional way, with pasta, but I got a couple of more ideas of how to showcase it in all its lush green glory.  

Curly Wurly Kale

For those of you who live in the U.K, the title may suggest a homage to a chewy toffee chocolate strip called Curly Wurly. So called because of the squiggly pattern you saw upon unwrapping the bar. It certainly was one of my favourite childhood chocolate treats. I recently learned that Curly Wurly was voted the best 'retro' chocolate bar in the U.K. Anyway, as much as I would like to share some of my childhood memories of eating this sweet, chewy, melty chocolate bar, I must not get distracted. Instead I shall focus on the much healthier vegetable that shares part of its name with the curly wurly, the green leaf known as curly kale.

Curly kale is a member of the same family as cabbage Brassica oleracea. Kale is such a robust crop and another good one to grow in if like me you live in a cold region as its pretty resistant to frost. It comes in purple and green, flat leaved, crinkly and curly. I personally prefer the taste of curly kale much more than Cavolo nero aka black kale. Kale is also a good alternative to cabbage or spinach and its quite versatile too. I was originally going to make a hearty curly kale and dal soup, but changed my mind as the weather seemed to be changing.
Instead I made this Sauteed mushrooms, kale and chickpea. For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, will know that I am slowly dipping my culinary toes into the Oriental larder. I am trying to become adventurous in my use of some of the bottled ingredients, namely sesame oil, peanut oil, Teriyaki and plum sauce which are all still relatively new to both my taste buds and nose.

Now I know what you see below cannot be claimed as Oriental cuisine, but the writer of the original recipe describes the dish as a stir fry, because it is cooked in that manner. I’d probably just describe it as fusion food. Anyway, I have to admit I really actually enjoyed the flavours in this dish. It was a welcome change as the past few days I have eaten a lot of dairy based dishes and this one was vegan.

Sauteed mushrooms, kale and chickpeas
Serve 2 - 3

Ingredients
2 tablespoon olive oil
250g chestnut mushroom, sliced
250g curly kale, pulled of the stalks
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoon Tamari or soy sauce
2 tablespoon sesame seeds
Black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of spicy chilli sauce (optional)
Method
Heat the olive oil in a wide pan, add the mushrooms and cook for a few minutes, until it starts oozing out its juices, then stir in the kale and cook for about 15 minutes until the kale begins to soften, add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes, before adding chickpeas, sesame oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds, pepper and optional chilli sauce. Cook on low heat for a further 5 minutes for the chickpeas to heat through and the flavours to infuse. Then serve with plain boiled rice. Adapted from Barbara Kafka Vegetable Love.

Curly Kale

When I first tasted curly kale, its leathery chewy texture did not do very much for me. And I found myself only ever using it for a dish I created Spicy Dal with Curly Kale. But once I started growing my own, I noted the taste was completely different from shop bought ones which are shredded to pieces unnecessarily.

Anyway, curly kale is now one of my favourite greens. I like it simply steamed and then coated in garlic butter or warm garlic infused olive oil. Delicious with some small waxy potatoes.