Cooking with Kale

Yesterday, we were in the produce section and the kale looked really good. So we got some.

I've mostly had kale in soups or mixed with other leafy greens in salads, but yesterday we decided to go straight-up kale.

We blanched it for two minutes, sprinkled some ground black pepper and rice vinegar on it and served with shoyu-grilled tempeh. The savory shoyu flavor and the zing of the light rice vinegar dressing was the perfect match for the juicy green chewy kale. If the color green had a taste, it would be kale.

We paired the kale/tempeh delight with some quinoa (which has become our staple grain). We're attracted to it's complete protein profile, quick cooking time, and nutty flavor. I added some onion, garlic, oregano and red pepper flakes to the quinoa to give it some guts to stand up to the kale/tempeh.

With a fresh organic carrot on the side to balance out the two flavor powerhouse dishes, this meal was well-balanced and delicious. In the right portion, this meal could keep me satisfied for hours after eating.