I’ve discovered a new favorite vegetable at our farmer’s market.  Beautiful, bright green, crunchy Kale.  It took some doing to figure out not only what it is, but how to cook the stuff. 

Kale has a distinctive flavor.  It may look like turnip greens, collard greens, or mustard greens, but it has a very different flavor.  Kale is somewhat “spicy”; I wouldn’t say bitter, but it could be if not cooked correctly. 

The first time I cooked a batch of kale, I just pan seared it in a huge skillet with some oil, salt and pepper, until it was all wilty.  It was okay, but not good.  The flavor was a little bitter. 

The next time I cooked kale I basically boiled it in a big pot in chicken broth.  That was very disappointing because the kale was really limp.  I missed the crunchy texture I had by pan searing.  And the kale was still a little bitter, not spicy like they were before cooking.

Then I remembered some collard greens we had at a potluck one time.  They were fabulous and the lady who made them told me she just made them like normal, pan seared them with some bacon, salt, pepper, and a little touch of brown sugar.  Ah ha!  Back to the drawing board.

The results were perfect!  I put some cut-up bacon in a giant skillet and cooked the pieces down a little, but not until they were crispy.  Then I mixed just about a tablespoon of brown sugar into the bacon and bacon fat and piled the kale in, stirred it together a bit, added some salt and a generous amount of fresh ground black pepper.  I put on a cover and let the kale simmer for a good 15 minutes or more, until it was just nice and tender but still a touch crispy.  Yum!  The natural spicy flavor was somehow restored with the brown sugar and bacon combination.  Great!

Do you have a success story to share about cooking kale?  It’s an unusual green, but well worth the effort.  The crunchy green leaves hold up so well, I think that’s why I prefer it now to most other greens.  Are there soups or casseroles that you’ve tried making with kale?  Other than making kale as I have, are there some recipes and methods that you’ve had success with?