Kale Salad with Feta Pecans Cranberries and Pickled Onion Dressing Salad Betrayal

SN - I forgive you and take you back.

All lovers in love have heard that sappy saccharine quote, "If you love something set it free and if it comes back to you, it was meant to be." I recently had an experience that made me think of that quote over and over and I questioned the veracity of those words.

One of my good friends loves my many kale salads. Every opportunity I have, I try and give her a kale salad to satisfy all her cravings. She always eats it with such relish and such willingness that in my head I was sure I had her undying devotion to my kale salads.

However, a few weeks ago, I was stunned to receive this text from her. "I cheated on your kale salad." Turns out she went to a local grocery store and PURCHASED A KALE SALAD BEHIND MY BACK! I am a jealous woman so I did not respond well.  I was stunned. I was shocked. I was hurt and part of me died a little. How could she go so easily to another kale salad when she had mine almost as much as she wanted? 

I sent a series of texts back to her.

Youre disloyal.

You dont deserve my kale salad.

Its over.

You cant ever get my kale salad again.

Youll never see any piece of my salad again.

She kept on interjecting in between my rant with empty words.

I liked yours more.

Yours tastes better.

I cant eat any other kale salad except yours.

Ive learned my lesson. 

Ill never stray away from your salads again.

I shut off my phone and refused to hear anymore from her and her useless words about how she would never stray from my kale salad again.  But in the night, I discovered that separating her from my kale salad out of pure spite and stubborness hurt me more than it hurt her.  

The next morning I texted.

I forgive you.  My kale salads forgive you.

Im happy to say that she went away from my kale salads and came back to them, so it must be meant to be.  My head was sure that she wouldnt stray, but now my heart knows she wont.  This harsh test of our relationship proves that we have what it takes to make it all the way, as long as my kale salad is involved.

To celebrate our reunion over kale salad, I made this new one for her, which has the exciting addition of pickled onions in the dressing, which just adds the right sharp and sour bite to a wonderful salad.  It touches on the Greek salad with the feta, but the richness of pecans mixed with the hearty kale just makes a truly satisfying salad.  Im confident that this salad will also help you maintain loyal relationships with those around you.

Kale Salad with Feta, Pecans, Cranberries, and Pickled Onion Dressing
Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients
3 medium bunches Lacinato/dinosaur kale, washed and rinsed well, finely chopped (8 cups chopped)

½ cup finely chopped red onions
¼ red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
¼  cup extra virgin olive oil
¼  teaspoon fine grain sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 cup pecans (small pieces are fine, as you’ll be processing them anyways)

½ dried sweetened cranberries
¾  cup crumbled feta cheese

Method
If you’ve never dealt with dinosaur/lacinato kale, you’ll need to remove the stem before trying to eat it.  I’ve found the fastest way is to simply grab the stem with one hand, and with the other, start at the base of the leaf, and it a quick motion, strip the leaf upwards until the stem is left stripped.  I save the stem and chop it finely and put it in my vegetable soups.   I find it much easier to wash the kale after the stem has been removed.  Wash, dry very well in a salad spinner, and then shred.  The smaller the shred, the better the texture in the salad.

In a large jar, add chopped red onions.  Pour red wine vinegar and sugar over onions and shake vigorously so as to coat onions with vinegar sugar mixture.  Add olive oil, salt, and pepper and set aside until rest of the salad is done, so that onions have time to pickle.  It’s okay if the dressing separates and the vinegar stays around the onions because it aids in the pickling process.

Preheat oven to 300.  Lay pecans on a cookie sheet.  Cook until fragrant and lightly golden, 8 to 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool for 5 minutes.  Chop nuts finely, using a food processor.  Set aside.

In a large salad bowl add shredded kale, pecans, cranberries and feta cheese.  Pour dressing over salad and toss.  The salad should get enough of the pickled onions for the full flavor.

Serve.  Because of the sturdy nature of kale, you can actually dress this salad and serve even 30 minutes later and it’s still delicious, although my preference is to eat it immediately.

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This salad demands and commands loyalty.

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Shredded Kale Salad with Pecans Parmesan Cheese and Cranberries Learning isnt only winning

Both daughters finished an eye opening week of piano competitions and performances that made me say "WHAT?"  Ive seen the future of classical music, and while its alive and well, its probably not going to be driven by Daughters, which is perfectly fine with me.  Daughters competed for the experience, to hear wonderful music being played, and to practice and learn the value of taking a piece of music and working it on all angles to make it great.

Their great was good, but not as good as other peoples greats and that is still okay.  I never made it about the win (although I wanted a win, a little bit, secretly in my heart of hearts) and much more I wanted them to come out on the other side of the experience challenged, encouraged, but not discouraged.  I wrote a letter from #2 daughter to me, an imagined, fabricated one, but the one that represents what I hope she gained from this experience.

Dear Mom,

Thanks for the piano contest experience.  It was lots of hard work and I was angry when I didnt win.  You didnt seem angry though.  You were very calm, and your calm helped me to let go of my anger.  I really wanted to win and was surprised when I didnt, but you didnt seem to care much about the win, but kept on telling me that I had done a great job and you were proud of my effort.  I dont much like losing, but it isnt the worst thing to happen to me.

Next year I want to win, but I know that it isnt the most important thing.  I know that learning is the most important thing and Im thankful that I had a chance to learn and try something new.  Thanks for being by my side.

Love,
#2 Daughter.

If only we could control the lessons that our children learn from different experiences.  More often we just pray and hope that the right lessons are being learned.

In terms of this kale salad, no one Family is really a fan of raw kale.  I blend it into smoothies, I cook it in soups, but eating it raw in a salad hasnt been the family favorite, until now - with this salad.  They have actually learned to like this garlicky, lemony, cheesy salad (not Son of course) and Husband loves this salad so much, hell eat it every evening as part of his dinner.  No one liked it immediately (except me) but because I keep eating it and preparing it, and shredding that kale, theyve all come to enjoy it and I have to say, its been worth it.  I generally like to prepare a bunch of kale and pecans and then simply put the salad together when I need to eat it, which is generally every evening.

Shredded Kale Salad with Parmesan, Pecans, and Cranberries
Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients
3 medium bunches Lacinato/dinosaur kale, washed and rinsed well, finely chopped (8 cups chopped)
1 cup pecans (small pieces are fine, as you’ll be processing them anyways)
3 large garlic cloves
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
¼  cup extra virgin olive oil
¼  teaspoon fine grain sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
½ dried sweetened cranberries, for garnish
½ cup shredded parmesan cheese

Method
If you’ve never dealt with dinosaur/lacinato kale, you’ll need to remove the stem before trying to eat it.  I’ve found the fastest way is to simply grab the stem with one hand, and with the other, start at the base of the leaf, and it a quick motion, strip the leaf upwards until the stem is left stripped.  I save the stem and chop it finely and put it in my vegetable soups.   I find it much easier to wash the kale after the stem has been removed.  Wash, dry very well in a salad spinner, and then shred.  The smaller the shred, the better the texture in the salad.

Preheat oven to 300.  Lay pecans on a cookie sheet.  Cook until fragrant and lightly golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool for 5 minutes.  Chop nuts finely, using a food processor.  Set aside.

In a food processor, or with a garlic press, create finely chopped garlic. Add lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, and whisk together.  (If you are using food processor for garlic, add lemon juice to the garlic in the processor and process.  Add olive oil, salt and pepper to processor and give a quick pulse.)

In a large salad bowl add shredded kale, and dress lightly with dressing.  Depending on the actual volume of kale you may need less dressing that what you’ve made.  Carefully coat all kale with the dressing then toss in pecans, cranberries, and parmesan cheese.

Serve.  Because of the sturdy nature of kale, you can actually dress this salad and serve even 30 minutes later and it’s still delicious, although my preference is to eat it immediately.

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Everyone can learn to love this.

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Shredded Kale Avocado Salad Have you had enough kale yet

I know inwardly youre groaning.  AGAIN Joanne?  MORE KALE AGAIN?  Whats with the kale?

Every week, the farmers in my neighborhood comes by and I go and buy armloads of fresh Tuscan kale.  I bring it home and spend about an hour washing, drying and shredding the kale so that I can always have a kale salad, at the ready.  I love kale salad because they are hearty, hold up well, and taste great in a number of different permutations, and this avocado kale version is one inspired by a friend of mine who told me that Whole Foods makes a version that always gets picked over because people take all the avocados.

In your home version, however, you can just add so many avocados (or as many as youd like) so that NO ONE can pick out all of your avocados.  I love this version of kale salad for its brightness combined with the richness of the avocados.  You are satisfied after consuming it and probably your insides are happy to be so green with all of those great antioxidants.  Dont knock it until you try it (I know you there are kale haters out there) and a little bit of kale goes a long way in making you feel pretty darn great.

If you’ve never dealt with dinosaur/lacinato kale, you’ll need to remove the stem before trying to eat it.  I’ve found the fastest way is to simply grab the stem with one hand, and with the other, start at the base of the leaf, and it a quick motion, strip the leaf upwards until the stem is left stripped.  I save the stem and chop it finely and put it in my vegetable soups.   I find it much easier to wash the kale after the stem has been removed.  Wash, dry very well in a salad spinner, and then shred.  The smaller the shred, the better the texture in the salad.

Shredded Kale Avocado Salad
Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients
3 medium bunches Lacinato/dinosaur kale, washed and rinsed well, finely chopped (8 cups chopped)
2 or 3 large ripe avocados, cut into large chunks
3 large garlic cloves
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
¼  cup extra virgin olive oil
¼  teaspoon fine grain sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Method
In a food processor, or with a garlic press, create finely chopped garlic. Add lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, and whisk together.  (If you are using food processor for garlic, add lemon juice to the garlic in the processor and process.  Add olive oil, salt and pepper to processor and give a quick pulse.)

In a large salad bowl add shredded kale, and dress lightly with dressing.  Depending on the actual volume of kale you may need less dressing that what you’ve made.  Carefully coat all kale with the dressing then toss avocado chunks so that they are also coated with dressing.

Serve.  Because of the sturdy nature of kale, you can actually dress this salad and serve even 30 minutes later and it’s still delicious, although my preference is to eat it immediately.

Printable recipe

Keep all the avocados for yourself.

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Spicy Kale Salad with Tofu and Avocado Getting Away

For HYK- for the inspiration

For the first time in many many years, Husband and I have been actually discussing a real "getaway" vacation.  I say discussing because we arent anywhere near coming to an agreement about where to go and what we will do, but weve been throwing ideas back and forth at each other for the past few weeks or so.

Upon further discussion and examination, it became very clear that Husband and I definitely have two different ideas of what a vacation is.

Husbands idea is to stay at home, not wake up, not go anywhere, sit in his sweatpants and just be at home, eating home cooked food, playing catch with the kids, and overall not moving from where he is.

My idea of a vacation is not cooking, not cleaning, not teaching, not telling the kids to do their homework, piano practice, or extra work, and being able to experience something different from the repetitive nature of motherhood.  A few days of a completely different life is my idea.

Husband, as a way of challenging his own notion of a vacation, suggested that we rent a house somewhere and just spend time in the house.  I explained that recreating my daily life, just with a change of locale isnt a vacation.

For now, we still havent agreed on what we will do, where we will go, or when we will do it, but Im moderately hopeful that there is some sort of getaway in my immediate future.  Im looking for a change of pace, a change of scenery, and a change of lifestyle, even if it is for a brief, limited period of time.

In the meanwhile, I decided to try something entirely different with kale.  A good friend, HYK sent me a text of kale kimchi at a farmers market back east, and it immediately got me to thinking that kale would probably taste great with a spicy dressing on time - hence the birth of spicy kale salad!  With the crispy warm tofu, and the rich avocado, its a meal that leaves you completely satisfied, no joke.  Its not the same sort of satisfaction Ill get from being on a island somewhere (hint hint husband), but a satisfaction just the same.

As a note, anti-fish sauce man (Husband) ate the salad dutifully but informed me afterwards that he didnt really like it.  Children and I, however, devoured it.  Even the spice didnt turn them off to it.

Spicy Kale Salad with Tofu and Avocado
Serves 4

Ingredients
3 tablespoons Vietnamese fish sauce
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon sesame seed
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
2 tablespoons Korean red pepper flakes (gochugahloo-???? )

1 bunch of kale, thicker part of the stem removed, washed and chopped into bite sized pieces
1 block of tofu, cut into one inch pieces, drained on paper towel
1 avocado, sliced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 sprigs of cilantro (optional), finely chopped
2 scallions, finely chopped

Method
In a jar, (or in a bowl) mix together fish sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, sesame seed, garlic and crushed red pepper flakes.  Mix together well.  Set aside to allow flavors to meld.

Heat a skillet over high heat.  Add oil and drained tofu cubes and fry on all sides until golden, about 8 minutes.  On a paper towel lined plate, remove golden tofu and drain.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, add kale, scallions, and cilantro and add two or three heaping spoonfuls of dressing and using tongs or your hands (with a glove on it) toss until kale is well coated with the desired amount of dressing.  The dressing is spicy so adjust accordingly.  Add more if you like more spice.  (You will have some dressing leftover.  Use it on top of some sliced cucumbers.)

Arrange salad with dressed kale, chunks of tofu and slices of avocado.  Enjoy.

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Barley and Kale Salad with Golden Beets and Feta The Blame Game

The month of October was spent at the dentists office.  We recently changed insurance and then had to change dentists and with that series of changes it meant that I crammed a bunch of appointments in a few weeks.  Daughter #1 and Daughter #2 and Son all had a date with their dentist.

I probably shouldnt complain because we are lucky to have insurance and we are lucky to have such nice dentists.  But I have to complain because although Daughter #1 and Daughter #2 got off relatively easy (minor grooves in the rear adult molars requiring some sealant), Son did NOT get off easy.

My life spent at the dentist for Son in a nutshell consists of 3 cavities requiring 3 root canals, leading to 1 abscess and 1 tooth extraction.  Hes FOUR YEARS OLD and he had three cavities which required 3 root canals and now one of the root canals didnt take so he developed an abscess and now he has to lose the tooth.  (All of these procedures were done without a cool video playing on the ceiling and no laughing gas.)

No one is more upset than I am.  In fact, up until this evening I was seemingly the only one upset, only Son heard me talking about a taking out a tooth and had a temper tantrum on the floor about it.  "I dont WANT to take my tooth out!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.  I couldnt help myself.  I said to him, "You are losing your tooth because you havent brushed carefully enough nor have you allowed me to brush your teeth well enough nor did you take your antibiotics regularly enough nor did you do the salt water rinse after every single MEAL!"  Yep. I laid that ALL at Sons  feet.  Because really, the person I blame is me.

Im not sure if I could have prevented the cavities.  Hes susceptible.  I struggle with brushing his teeth because he fights me on it.  When the abscess first developed he screamed and yelled about the antibiotics (something that I wasnt really all that keen on giving him in the first place) I had a hard time being consistent with the medicine only because he was a bear about it.  And the end result is at the age of 4, Son will be missing a back molar that doesnt grow back until he is 12 years old.  The dentist reassured me that this was incredibly common as I sat in a chair with my head between my legs.  I am nauseous from all of this because this is not common to me.

And I sit blaming myself wondering what more could I have done.  Brushed harder?  More often?  Yelled more about the medicine and flossing?  Been more diligent and vigilant about gummy and fruit consumption?  I know that casting blame around isnt the best use of my time nor is it productive but I cant help wondering what I did wrong.

Its times like this when I feel like a horrible mother that I have to do something to make myself feel like a good mother.  Kale.  Whole grains.  Nutritious foods.  These things make me feel better and its an area where I know I can always be better than I was yesterday. I found this recipe in my Bon Appetit magazine and knew I had to make it right away.  The yellow and green colors were appealing and the use of kale, which is sturdy so it holds up well made me feel healthy, just by its mere presence.  There is a bit of finickiness as the kale, beets, barley all require separate preparation before it is tossed together, but each separate preparation is so simple that this can be an easy weeknight meal (and it can be made ahead to boot.)

The recipe calls for Tuscan kale, also called black kale, dinosaur kale, Lacinato kale, or cavolo nero, which has long, narrow, very dark green bumpy leaves and is available at farmers markets and some supermarkets.  I find that the best way to separate the leaves from the stems is to grab the stem with one hand and with the other, pull down and basically pull the leave away from the stem.  (I prefer this from the more tedious method of cutting out the stem, but you can do this too.)

Barley and Kale Salad with Golden Beets and Feta
Adapted from Bon Appetit November 2012
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; more for drizzling

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
1 bunch Tuscan kale, center ribs and stems removed, leaves cut into 1-inch squares
1/4 cup minced shallots
3 medium golden beets (about 1 bunch), trimmed
1 1/4 cups pearl barley
4 ounces feta, crumbled
2 tablespoons (or more) lemon juice

Method
Whisk 1/4 cup oil, red wine vinegar, honey, and lemon zest in a large bowl to blend; season with salt and pepper. Add kale and shallots; mix until completely coated. Cover and chill until kale is tender, at least 3 hours.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400°. Place beets on a piece of tin foil and drizzle with olive oil.  Completely wrap up and seal beets in foil.   Bake beets until tender when pierced with a thin knife, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Let cool completely. Peel beets using your fingers.  They will peel easily.  Cut into 1/4-inch pieces (you should have about 2 cups).

Cook barley in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 30 to 45 minutes. Drain barley and spread out on a rimmed baking sheet; let cool completely.

Add beets, barley, and feta to kale. Drizzle salad with remaining 2 tablespoons oil and 2 tablespoons lemon juice.  Fold gently to combine. Season to taste with pepper and more lemon juice, if desired. Salad can be made two days ahead.  Cover and chill.

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Roasted Beet Walnut Feta and Kale Salad The harvest

We are headed into harvest time and I once heard Chef Michael Chiarello describe it as a time where one foot is in the summer and one foot in the fall.  I found it such a beautiful description - that split of the seasons, the moment that the year has a perfect balance.

Sometimes harvest is something different, which is what I experienced today.  For the past 4 years, Ive been cooking the teachers at Childrens elementary school a meal, twice a year, always on the Thursday that I set up for the semiannual book fair. Its at the Teachers preview luncheon, when teachers have an opportunity to choose books for their wishlist boxes and enjoy the book fair without 30 or more kids running around and asking a million questions.  Over the past 4 years, Ive cooked and served a light lunch to some fantastic teachers at our school, favoring simple wholesome food.  Ive cooked chili  most often, as it is always a huge hit with the teachers.  This year I decided to go with a different menu, kale salad with pecans and Parmesan cheese, turkey arugula meatballs on top of a small dinner roll with provolone cheese, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  I served freshly cut apples as well as an assortment of drinks.  

With my two loyal and regular assistants by my side, we began serving the teachers.  One helped keep the kale salad flowing, and one made sure that there was enough of a rationing system so that all the teachers would be able to have some meatballs.  (I had hand rolled exactly 124, which makes 62 mini-sandwiches, and I knew there would be some people who would want more.)  My favorite part of the day, was looking over to see that teachers had grabbed chairs and were sitting around in a circle together.  They laughed while eating, and I saw shoulders relax, jokes made, and overall a feeling of warmth and goodness.

That was my harvest today.  I think through the continual planting of consistent food and service, teachers have come to appreciate the moment of respite in their day in the food that they ate.  I saw the harvest of goodness, happiness and kindness today and it made me smile.

In honor of the harvest, both of the bounty of the earth and the bounty of human happiness, I made this wonderful beet salad.  I often roast two kinds of beets all at once, peel the skin off, slice and leave them chilled in the fridge so that I can add them to a salad whenever I wish.  I candy the walnuts all at once, and leave them in a tightly sealed container so that I can enjoy them whenever I want.  I make the dressing ahead of time, so that whenever I feel like it, I can have this salad at my beck and call.  Its the perfect combination of sweet, salty, and nutty all in a harvest-themed salad.  Ive served it multiple times at church functions, always to rave reviews.  You can enjoy it on your own, but I guarantee that if you share, youll also notice a harvest of good will and love.

Roasted Beet, Walnut, Feta and Kale Salad
Serves 5 to 6

Ingredients
3 medium bunches Lacinato/dinosaur kale, washed and rinsed well, roughly chopped (8 cups chopped) OR 8 cups of baby kale

1 or two colors of beets, roasted, sliced

½ cup finely chopped red onions
¼ red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
¼  cup extra virgin olive oil
¼  teaspoon fine grain sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

2 cups whole walnuts (You’ll need only 1 cup for this salad, but go ahead and make extra)
½ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons butter

¾  cup crumbled feta cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Method
If youve never dealt with dinosaur/lacinato kale, you’ll need to remove the stem before trying to eat it.  Ive found the fastest way is to simply grab the stem with one hand, and with the other, start at the base of the leaf, and it a quick motion, strip the leaf upwards until the stem is left stripped.  Wash, dry very well in a salad spinner, and then roughly chop.

In a large jar, add chopped red onions.  Pour red wine vinegar and sugar over onions and shake vigorously so as to coat onions with vinegar sugar mixture.  Add olive oil, salt, and pepper and set aside until rest of the salad is done, so that onions have time to pickle.  It’s okay if the dressing separates and the vinegar stays around the onions because it aids in the pickling process.

In a large fry pan over medium heat, add walnuts, sugar and butter.  As butter and sugar begin to melt, continuously stir mixture.  Heat for 5 to 7 minutes, until sugar is melted and and butter coats nuts.  Immediately turn nuts out onto a piece of parchment paper, and begin separating the nuts into individual pieces.  Move quickly, otherwise nuts will clump together.

Once all the components are prepared, put together the salad.  If using dinosaur kale, toss kale with dressing and massage and let dressing help wilt the kale for about 6 minutes.  Then place kale on desired serving plate and add sliced beets, walnuts, feta and a nice bit of freshly ground black pepper.

If using baby kale, quickly toss kale with dressing, and then add beets, walnuts, feta, and a healthy grind of black pepper on top.  Serve immediately.  Both versions are really lovely, with the regular tuscan kale version being a sturdier salad, standing up to a bit of time delay while the baby kale does not.  If you can serve it immediately, baby kale is an excellent choice.  If it is going to sit for a while, then definitely use the tuscan kale.

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For the harvest.

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Korean Kale Soybean Paste Stew Kale Doenjang Jjigae 된장찌개 On giving the rice cooker the night off

Since Husbands return to regular hours with the family, Children have been slightly disgruntled, as they say,"Its ALWAYS rice mom."

Husband loves his Korean food and it seems that since hes spent a majority of the past 10 years in Asia, that desire for a hearty Asian meal is not at rest.  It is, in fact, more fired up than ever, and what he wants ALL the time and asks for ALL the time is some sort of soup with rice and kimchi.  Every. Single. Night.

I cant even handle the daily rigor of a full Korean meal for dinner as I often dont have the ability to pull one out every single evening, and Children are also just DESPERATE for something different.  "Anything mom, just not Korean."  Ive taken to batch cooking some Korean comfort dishes and preparing some non Korean dishes on other nights, so that Children get a break from the onslaught of Korean meals.  Husband will come home, and on some nights ask, "What did everyone else eat?" and Ill tell him and hell politely say that hed like both menus - Western and Korean.  Sigh.

On a recent weekend, after I had not gone to the market to replenish a variety of supplies, Husband declared that he needed to have some sort of soup with his dinner that evening, which I was trying to keep simple for the sake of simplicity.  I held in the exasperation because on some level, its rather reassuring that Husband thinks that I can bang out dishes at his request.  Only this time, I didnt have very much to make and so I began scrambling for ingredients, and what I came up with was kale, tofu, onions, and a bit of meat.  I wasnt sure how it would turn out, but I was pretty sure that a kale soybean paste soup had great potential to be tasty.

Turns out - very tasty.  And Children happened to really like the kale in the soup (with Son declaring that he ATE IT ALL loudly) and the picky Husband slurped the soup like it tasted good.  Daughters even enjoyed it despite their protest of Korean AGAIN, and it was a great find.  Ive taken to making a large pot of this so that I can have it at the ready should Husband need his daily Korean fix and the kids are in rebellion mode.

Korean Kale Soybean Paste Stew (Kale Doenjang Jjigae ????)
Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients
1 tablespoon sesame oil
¼ lb of steak, or some sort of lean meat, chopped into small pieces
1 large onion, chopped into 1 inch pieces
4 scallions, finely chopped
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 jalapenos, sliced
1 teaspoon crushed sesame seeds
1 bunch of kale, tough stems removed, and roughly chopped
½ cup of Korean soybean paste (??) - but there is great variances in the flavor of doenjang so you may have to adjust accordingly
6 cups of water
1 large block of firm tofu, cut into chunks

Method
Heat a heavy pot over medium high heat and sesame oil, meat, onion, scallion, garlic, jalapenos, and sesame seeds.  Saute and cook until meat is browned, onions, translucent, and entire mixture is fragrant.  Add chopped kale all at once and begin wilting kale until it is slightly softened and more pliable.  Add Korean soybean paste and stir until it is mixed throughout vegetable meat mixture.  Add 6 cups of water, and cover, reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes, until kale is tender.  Add chunks of tofu and bring to boil again.

Serve with rice and kimchi.

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Kale Kimchi The dishwasher is broken

For HYK - thank you for the inspiration!

It seems that my life is forever peppered by appliances in my kitchen that break.  Since moving to the US, Ive gotten a new oven (I actually need to replace my oven again, because the glass is broken, but thats for another time), a new stove with two different sets of repairs, and now - the crowning achievement in my kitchen breaking appliance coursework...the dishwasher.

THE DISHWASHER!!!  I can only scream it aloud because it is, by far, my MOST USED APPLIANCE!

I need to write an ode to my dishwasher, because after 7 years living in Asia without one, the thing I wanted most in my kitchen in the US was a dishwasher, and is the appliance I repeatedly use, again, again, and again, and again.

Last night, however, as I ran the dishes, I came upon a very not so good smell of burning plastic - and opened the dishwasher to find the heating coil had melted through the plastic liner.  Even that description should tell you - it is not a good situation.  Right after I made that discovery and with a look of shock and dismay on my face, Husband walked through the door.

"Whats wrong?" he asked worriedly.  "Is everything okay?"

"NO!  Its not okay!  The dishwasher is broken!"

"Oh.  Well, just buy a new one."

I dont think Husband understood my panic with my non-functioning dishwasher.  My dishwasher is my best friend EVERY SINGLE DAY in my kitchen.  I check in on her first thing in the morning, unloading her and stacking the dishes and putting them away before the kids wake up.  Right after breakfast, I begin loading her back up full of all the empty plates and whatnot.  After I eat my lunch, Son comes home with his lunch box full of things to wash, and all my dinner prep is done, I generally finish loading her and wash again.  If I bake, there is an extra wash for the dishwasher to do.  If I do a lot of leftover eating, then there are tons of containers to do.  If I cook with milk or egg, large pots and pans make a visit into the dishwasher. You get the picture.  My run down, old dishwasher is my sidekick, my bestie, my most reliable in the kitchen.

Just buy a new one?

How does one replace their sidekick?  Not easily it turns out.  Since it takes me such a long time to decide to befriend a person, its obvious that such difficult would come with the territory when choosing my kitchen sidekick.  Suddenly I was faced with price, efficiency of the machine itself, color, maintenance, style, functions, stainless tub or not, heated dry or not, German or domestic and the final question of how quickly it could make it into my kitchen.

There are no easy answers it seems.  My own personal level of stress regarding this replacement of my best friend has led me down the path of tears twice in a day, with one good friend saying, "You need to grow some thicker skin" and Husband bellowing on the phone, "JUST BUY THE ONE YOU WANT" and of course, my being stymied by it all.

Actually, what I want is for my old dishwasher to just keep on chugging away, as she did, getting my dishes as clean as she did and working for me faithfully, as she has for the past 6 years.  Why did she leave me in the first place?

Kimchi, for many people, is something that they expect in a certain way, with a certain cabbage, and a certain flavoring.  I grew up refusing to eat anyones kimchi except for my own mothers or grandmothers and the rest were pushed aside with my nose in the air.  That has long since changed since Mom no longer makes kimchi and mom in law makes it for me or I buy it.  Kimchi, my long trusted sidekick, has also had to be replaced.

Ive been experimenting with kale in Korean food these days, as I do think that kale works well with the stronger richer notes of Korean cooking.  My most recent attempt was turning kale into kimchi, which I did a couple of days ago to great success.  I used dinosaur kale, and I found that the leaves stayed crisp and crunchy and the bitter notes were off set by the spicy garlicky flavors of the kimchi itself, and it was the perfect condiment to my Korean meal.  Its relatively simple to make and you can make a jar for yourself and your sidekick with no problem.

Just dont expect your dishwasher to always stick around for you.

Kale Kimchi
Makes 4 cups kimchi

Ingredients
2 bunches of dinosaur kale, toughest white part of the stem removed, washed and roughly cut into bite sized pieces (if you can get organic, this is nice to use here)
¼ cup fish sauce (possibly more)
¼ cup mochiko (sweet rice flour)
1 ½ cups water
2 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons Korean red chili powder (gochugaroo)
¼ cup finely chopped garlic

Method
Place chopped washed kale in a large bowl.  Drizzle fish sauce over the entire bowl and toss, lightly coating all the leaves with fish sauce.  Set aside.  The fish sauce will help draw out some of the water and being “wilting” the kale.

In a small saucepan add mochiko powder, water and sugar.  Place pan and begin heating rice flour water mixture of medium high heat.  Whisk and stir constantly, until mixture begins to thicken and bubble.  Continue whisking for another minute longer.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

After kale has been resting with fish sauce for about 45 minutes, and rice flour mixture is warm, carefully drain the fish sauce in the bottom of the kale bowl into the rice flour mixture.

To rice flour mixture add Korean red chili powder and finely chopped garlic.  Mix together making a red paste.  Taste.  Mixture should be salty.  Add a bit of fish sauce if necessary.  Using your hands (covered with disposable glove), mix red rice flour paste with kale, using a gentle touch, until all kale leaves are coated.

In nice wide mouth jars, pack kale kimchi in.  Do not over stuff jars (leave some room at the top for fermentation process) and leave outside for 2 hours until fully cooled.  Refrigerate.

Flavor of kimchi changes the longer it ferments.  Check after 24 hours to see if you like the flavor.  Try again in 48 hours, and keep tasting until the flavor you like comes out.  Some people prefer a less fermented flavor, so eat it sooner and those who like a more mellow fermented flavor, eat later.

Enjoy!

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