Tag Archives: kale

Protein-Packed Quinoa Egg and Kale Scramble

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Try this quinoa, egg and kale scramble if you want to start your mornings with a filling, protein packed, yummy breakfast. There is at least 11 grams of protein per serving in this dish, thanks to all the quinoa. And who says eggs are only for breakfast?! Make this scramble and put it between bread slices for a delicious lunch, or whip up this recipe for a fast dinner.

eggs and kale for scramble

If you have cooked quinoa on had, this recipe takes just a few minutes to make. I like using red quinoa because it looks jeweled and beautiful against the scrambled eggs. But white quinoa will work just fine. I added dried oregano to the scramble, but feel free to add any kind of seasoning you like. Dried herbs, chipotle peppers, tabasco sauce, curry powder will all be great seasonings for this quinoa and egg scramble.

Quinoa, Egg and Kale Scramble Recipe

serves 3-4

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
2 cups shredded kale
6 large eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano or Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, optional
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
Salt & Pepper

 Method
1.Heat the butter or oil in a skillet. Add kale and stir just until it turns bright green, about 30 seconds.
2. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and oregano and garlic powder together.
3. Pour the eggs over the kale, and stir. Let the eggs cook on medium heat till the bottom is starting to set.
4. Add the quinoa, and scramble the eggs till they set, but are still soft.
Serve with toast.

Thanksgiving Vegetarian Wellington with Fennel Braised Seitan, Thyme Roasted Mushrooms and Kale

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Make this vegetarian wellington recipe for Thanksgiving and the turkeys of America will love you! And so will your guests. This welling is a puff pastry wrapping, stuffed with orange and fennel seed braised seitan, thyme roasted mushrooms and kale. All served with the best vegetarian gravy ever (recipe coming up next)! You can make all the components to this recipe up to three days in advance. Just assemble and bake the wellingtons on Thanksgiving day – easy!
Now, here are all the components for this recipe

The Spice Mix
I used fennel seeds, coriander seeds and a few peppercorns to add a little spice and great flavor to this wellington. Crush everything in a mortar and pestle and let it sizzle in some butter. The flavors will infuse the butter beautifully. The spices in this recipe are subtle. But if you want a more pronounced spice note, feel free to double the spice mix recipe.

The Seitan Filling
Seitan, also called “wheat meat” is made from wheat gluten, and is easily available at most grocery stores. It has a meaty texture and is high in protein. Use whatever brand seitan you like. I used west soy brand chicken style seitan. The recipes calls for 8oz of drained seitan. So if your seitan is packaged in liquid, remember that the 8oz is the drained weight.

For the seitan filling, brown it in butter, along with half of the spice mix. Then braise the seitan in orange juice for a bright, citrus flavor. Orange zest adds an extra pop.

Kale Filling
The kale filling is a quick sauté of onions, celery, carrot, garlic and kale, along with the delicious spice mix.

Roasted Mushroom Filling
This is a simple, and easy filling, and requires no baby sitting. Just toss the mushrooms in olive oil, salt and pepper and bake till golden. Just make sure the mushrooms arent touching each other. If you crowd them on the baking sheet, they wont brown.

How to Make the Wellingtons
Spread the three fillings all over the thawed puff pastry, leaving a little border. Then using the parchment paper that the puff pastry is sitting on, lift and roll (like sushi), till it forms a log. Brush with egg wash and bake.

A note on puff pastry
A lot of puff pastries contain butter. But if you are looking for a vegan puff pastry, use pepperidge farm. Also, if you haven’t worked with puff pastry before, you may want to start with the vegan puff pastry. Puff pastry made with butter can be difficult to handle. And remember if the puff pastry gets too warm, it will get sticky (put it back in the freezer for a few minutes), and if its not thawed enough, it will be too hard. Time your cooking in such a way that you take out the puff pastry from the freezer to thaw about 20 minutes before you need it.

Make Ahead Tips
- All three fillings can be made up to 3 days ahead, and refridgerated
- If you made the roasted mushrooms ahead of time, they may get a little watery. Strain out the liquid from the mushrooms before using
- You can also assemble the entire wellington, and then freeze it unbaked. On the day of Thanksgiving, bake the frozen wellington at 400f for about an hour or till it is golden.

Thanksgiving Vegetarian Wellington with Seitan, Roasted Mushroom & Kale Recipe

serves 6-8

Ingredients
2 sheets of frozen puff pastry
1 egg, for egg wash. Substitute with 1/4 cup of whole milk or soy milk
a pinch of fennel seeds

For Spice Mix
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon black pepper corns

For Mushroom Filling
1 lb mushrooms (white or crimini)
4 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
A few sprigs of thyme

For Seitan Filling
8oz drained seitan*
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
1 large orange
1/4th teaspoon sugar, optional
Salt
*if the seitan is packed in liquid, the net weight will be more, so look for the drained weight, which should be 8oz.

For Kale Filling
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 celery ribs, diced
1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1/2 bunch kale, shredded
1 teaspoon thyme leaves

Method
Pre-heat oven to 425F
1. Using a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder, coarsely grind the fennel, coriander and black pepper. Set the spice mix aside.
2. Wipe the mushrooms clean. Then cut them in half.
3. Place the mushrooms, olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl and toss well.
4. Transfer the mushrooms to a baking sheet. Make sure the mushrooms are not crowded or touching each other. Use two baking sheets if needed.
5. Scatter the thyme sprigs on top of the mushrooms.
6. Bake at 425F for about 20 minutes or till golden. When done, remove from the oven and let the mushrooms cool.

7. While the mushrooms are baking, work on the seitan filling. If the seitan is packed in water, drain the water. Slice the seitan into strips.
8. Heat the butter or olive oil in a large skillet. Add half the spice mixture and let it sizzle in the butter/olive oil for a few seconds.
9.. Then add in the seitan. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, till the seitan is golden brown.
10. While the seitan is cooking, zest the orange, and measure out 1 tablespoon of zest.
11. Then juice the orange and measure out a little less than 1/2 cup of juice.
12. When the seitan is golden, pour in the orange juice, sugar, and salt. Cook till all the liquid bubbles away. Add in the zest, stir, and turn off heat. Let the seitan cool completely.
(Now is a good time to take the puff pastry out of the freezer and let it thaw)

13. While the seitan is cooling, work on the kale. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and add other half of the spice mixture, the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic. Cook on medium heat till the vegetables are soft.
14. Add the shredded kale, thyme, and salt and stir just till the kale starts to wilt. Turn off heat and let the kale cool completely.
(You can make all the fillings up to 3 days in advance and refrigerate them. On the day of, just thaw the puff pastry and proceed with filling it)

Pre-heat oven to 400F
15. Break the egg into a small bowl, whisk it well. Cover and keep in the refrigerator till ready to use.
16. When all the fillings are completely cooled, and the puff pastry is thawed, you are ready to assemble the wellington. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the thawed puff pastry on the parchment.
17. Spread half the kale filling all over the puff pastry, leaving a little border all around. Top the kale with half the seitan mixture, and the half the mushrooms.
18. Grab the parchment paper on the long end of the puff pastry. Carefully lift and roll the puff pastry till it forms a log.
If the puff pastry is too sticky to be able to roll, just put the baking sheet with the wellington in the freezer for a few minutes, it will firm up and become easier to work with. If the puff pastry is too stiff, it means it needs to thaw more before you can work with it.

19. Brush the log with egg wash. Sprinkle a few fennel seeds on top of the log. Then using a sharp knife, make 3 small, evenly spaced cuts on top of the log.
20. Repeat with the second puff pastry sheet and the remaining half of the fillings.
21. Bake in a 400F oven, till golden brown, about 15 minutes.
22. Serve immediately with vegetarian gravy.

Kale and Goat Cheese Mashed Sweet Potato. A Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipe

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Like me, if you are  sick of serving your guests regular old mashed potatoes, you will love this recipe. This kale and goat cheese mashed sweet potatoes will be the perfect side dish for thanksgiving. And you can easily make it ahead and reheat it in the microwave.

I make this recipe using a variety of greens – spinach, swiss chard, arugula…but kale is my favorite for this recipe. I used a log of herb encrusted chevre cheese because I like the flavor of the herbs. But any kind of good goat cheese will do.

If you like your mashed sweet potatoes to be sweet, add 2 tablespoons brown sugar or maple syrup to this recipe. Serve kale and goats cheese mashed sweet potato with my thanksgiving tofu skin roulade and sage mushroom stuffing.

Kale and Goat Cheese Mashed Sweet Potato Recipe

serves about 4

Ingredients

2 lb (about 2 large) sweet potatoes or garnet yams
4 cups shredded kale
4 oz goat cheese
1 cup milk
Salt, freshly cracked black pepper

Method
Peel the sweet potato or yams. Cut into even sized 1 inch cubes. Place the sweet potatoes in a large pot filled with water. Boil uncovered for 15 minutes or till they are very soft.

Drain the sweet potatoes well and leave them in the colander.

In the same pot, add the kale, goats cheese and milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer till the kale has just wilted. Add salt and pepper. Turn off heat.

Add the cooked sweet potatoes to the hot kale and milk. Mash well. If the mashed sweet potato is too thick, add more milk to thin it out to your liking.

Tuscan Kale and Chickpea Pasta

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Pasta e fagioli or pasta with beans is a traditional Italian dish. It is usually made with pasta and cannellini or white beans in a tomato sauce. I took inspiration from the pasta+bean concept and turned it into a hearty main dish of pasta, chickpeas and wilted kale.

The easiest way to wilt the kale for this dish is to dunk it into the pasta cooking water just before you are ready to drain the pasta. Then drain the pasta and kale together. Add any kind of fresh greens you like. Vegans can simply leave out the parmesan in this dish.

This goes to Presto Pasta Nights hosted by the lovely Claire of Chez Cayenne.

Tuscan Kale and Chickpea Pasta

serves 4-6

One 14 oz box of whole grain pasta (I used Barilla whole grain rotini)
12 large leaves Tuscan kale or any other variety of Kale, about 2 cups when shredded

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
Crushed red peppers, to taste
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
2 tablespoons bottled, pickled capers + 2 tablespoons caper juice      
2 cups of drained, rinsed, canned chickpeas
1/4th cup dry white wine, optional
1/2 cup water
½ cup grated parmesan cheese

In a large pot, bring plenty of water to boil. Generously salt the water. When the water reaches a rolling boil, add the pasta, and cook till pasta is al dente. Make sure pasta doesn’t over-cook.

While pasta is cooking, rinse the kale, and remove the tough ribs. Stack the kale leaves, roll up the stack, and cut into thin shreds. Set shredded kale aside.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add onion and cook on medium heat till the onion softens, about 5 minutes. Then add crushed red pepper, and garlic. Cook 30 seconds. Add capers, caper juice from the bottle, chickpeas and white wine, if using. Let the mixture boil.

When most the wine has evaporated, add the water. Cook on medium-low heat for about 2 minutes, while mashing some of the chickpeas. Add more water for a thinner sauce.  Stir in parmesan and turn off heat. Taste and add salt if needed. You may not need salt for this sauce because the capers and the parmesan are quite salty.

When the pasta is almost done, dunk the shredded kale into the pasta pot. Let the pasta and kale boil for about 10 seconds. Drain the pasta and kale.

Toss the drained pasta and kale with the chickpea mixture. Serve immediately with extra parmesan for sprinkling.

Jamaican Style Curried Kale and White Bean ‘Patties’

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jamaican patties

Just as I was prepping to make these yummy savory pastries, we heard a little ‘thud’ outside. S and I went out to the deck to see what was going on. It was a little red bird lying motionless and belly up on the deck. Little red feathers were floating down. We quickly realized what had happened. The poor bird had crashed into our living room window mid-flight. Apparently 100 million birds die each year, crashing into transparent windows.

S was going to sweep up the bird after dinner. And I returned to making the Jamaican patties, which incidentally were so incredibly super fabulously good that I can’t stop thinking about them. Next time I will have to make a few million of these and freeze them. Anyways, I digress. So when I opened the oven door to take out the freshly baked, heavenly smelling patties, I head another sound outside. I peeped out the window.

The dead bird was waking up and about to fly away!
The dead bird smelled my wonderful Jamaican patties and came back alive!!
Or that’s what I’d like to believe.

I later read online that many birds that hit windows are just passed out, not dead. Good we didn’t bury the poor fella when we found him. But I still think the bird woke up because it smelled the Jamaican patties.

Jamaican Style Curried Kale and White Bean 'Patties'

 Jamaican Style Curried Kale and White Bean ‘Patties’
makes 8 muffin sized ‘patties’

This is my interpretation of a Jamaican patty, so its not exactly authentic, but very tasty nevertheless. A traditional Jamaican patty or pattie is half moon shaped and generally filled with meat. The flaky outer crust is made with flour and butter or shortening, and the crust is yellow from the addition of turmeric. As a short cut, I used store bought puff pastry with turmeric sprinkled on top. I baked these in a muffin pan. You don’t have to use a muffin pan, you could bake them like you would a turnover.

1 sheet puff pastry
1 can Cannellini Beans
1 bunch Kale
¼ tsp chopped green chili, or scotch bonnet (this is a very hot pepper), or a few pinches of crushed red pepper
1 tsp minced or grated garlic
1 tsp minced or grated ginger
1 tbsp curry powder (my curry powder is very mild so I used 1 tbsp. start with half, taste, and then add more if needed)
¼ tsp + 1/8 tsp turmeric
1 tsp vinegar
Salt
½ tbsp milk for brushing
½ tbsp vegetable oil

Jamaican Style Curried Kale and White Bean 'Patties'

Thaw the puff pastry for 45 minutes. While the puff pastry is thawing, work on the filling.

In a large pot, bring plenty of water to a boil. Add some salt and the vinegar to the water. The vinegar will help retain the color of the kale. Remove and discard the tough stems from the kale. Roughly chop the kale. When the water comes to a boil, drop the chopped kale in the water. Blanch for 1 minute. Then drain the kale. Wash it with cold water to stop the cooking process. Squeeze out all the water from the kale and set aside.

Jamaican Style Curried Kale and White Bean 'Patties'

Drain and wash the cannellini beans. Heat oil in a skillet and add the garlic, ginger and chopped chilies, (or scotch bonnet peppers or crushed pepper). Cook, stirring on medium heat for about 30 seconds. Then add 1/8th tsp turmeric and the curry powder. Cook another 20-30 seconds. Make sure the curry powder doesn’t burn.

Now add the cannellini beans and blanched kale to the skillet. Turn off heat. Add salt and stir the mixture until everything is well combined.

Pre heat oven to 400F.

Spray a 12 cup muffin pan with non stick baking spray. You can skip this step if you are using a non stick pan.

Jamaican Style Curried Kale and White Bean 'Patties'

Lay out the thawed puff pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll out the pastry sheet a little. Then using your hands, lift and gently stretch the pastry sheet to make it thinner.

Sprinkle 1/4th tsp turmeric all over the pastry sheet. Spread the turmeric as evenly as you can using your fingers. Now take a fork and prick all over the pastry sheet. This will ensure it doesn’t puff up on the oven.

Cut one third of the pastry sheet and set side. Cut the remaining pastry sheet into 8 equal squares. Gently stretch each piece out so that it lines a muffin cup. Place each square of pastry sheet into each cup of the muffin pan. The side with turmeric should be touching the pan. The side without turmeric should be touching the filling. If the corners of the pastry sheet are sticking out, cut them and use them to patch up other parts of the lining.

Jamaican Style Curried Kale and White Bean 'Patties'

Once you’ve lined all the muffin pan cups, fill them with the kale-white bean mixture. Take the reserved one third pastry sheet and cut it into 8 pieces. Gently stretch the pieces so they fit over the muffin pan cups. Place them over each cup, fold over the corners and lightly pinch the edges together.

Brush the tops with milk. Bake for 20 minutes or till the ‘patties’ are golden.

Jamaican Style Curried Kale and White Bean 'Patties'

This goes to the monthly mingle event over at Meeta’s lovely What’s For Lunch Honey? blog.

Peppery Greens Soup with Pearl Couscous

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My friend V introduced me to pearl couscous. Last year, she made us a delicious, spicy dish with sauteed pearl couscous, cumin and crushed peanuts. That got me hooked onto these little chewy ‘pearls’. Also called Israeli couscous, pearl couscous is actually a pasta. I bought mine at Trader Joe’s and V told me its available at Whole Foods as well. I love its texture in soup and it cooks in under 10 minutes. In keeping with this weeks ‘easy cooking’ theme, I made a soup with lots of crushed peppercorns, spinach, kale and pearl couscous.

Peppery Greens Soup with Pearl Couscous
(about 6 servings)

Pearl Couscous – 1 1/4 cup, raw (or use any kind of small pasta – orzo, small shells or macaroni)
Frozen Spinach – a 10 oz package, thawed. (or use fresh spinach)
Kale or any kind of greens – 2 cups, chopped
Cannellini beans – 1 can
Onion – 1 large
Garlic – 4 cloves
Parsley – 1/2 cup chopped
Bay leaf – 1
Peppercorns – 1/2 tbsp
White wine – 1/4 cup
Vegetable stock or water – 10 cups
Lemon juice – 2 tbsp
Olive oil or butter – 2 tbsp

Place the peppercorns in a zip lock bag. Using a rolling pin, roughly crush the peppercorns. This method makes the soup peppery. If want your soup milder, throw in the peppercorns whole, and fish them out before serving.

Finely chop and onion , garlic and parsley. Chop or shred the kale.

Heat the olive oil or butter in a deep pot on medium heat. Add the bay leaf and crushed peppercorns. When the bay leaf is fragrant, about 30 seconds, add the onion. Saute till onions are soft. Then add the garlic and saute another 30 seconds. Increase heat to medium high. Add the parsley and pour in the white wine. Let the wine come to a boil. Now pour in 10 cups of water or stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered for 12 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, work on the pearl couscous. Heat a skillet on medium-low heat. Place the pearl couscous in the skillet (without any oil) and toast the couscous, stirring occasionally, till its slightly brown.

When the soup has simmered for 12 minutes, remove the lid and add the toasted couscous to the soup. Also add the chopped kale (if you are using a different kind of green, add it to the soup later, depending on its cooking time). Let the couscous boil in the soup for about 7-8 minutes. Check to see if its done – it must be cooked but chewy.

When couscous is done, stir in the spinach and cannellini beans. Turn off heat. Taste the soup and add salt and lemon juice.

To serve, spoon the soup into bowls. Drizzle each bowl with some olive oil. Top with chopped tomatoes, chopped green olives or grated Parmesan cheese.

Kale and Jumping Corn Saute with Chili Lime Salt

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I like blackened corn, so I was cooking some on my skillet on high heat for this dish. Just then, the big fat fly that has taken up residence in my kitchen appeared. Ive been trying to evict this fly for 4 days now. I even put some sugar by the window, hoping it would come for the sugar and I could shoo it out the window. But this is one healthy fly; it didn’t come for the sugar, but the minute i took the kale out, there it was! So I went chasing after it with tea towel in one hand and bug spray in another. By that time I had forgotten about the corn in my skillet. Having given up on the wild fly chase, I came back to the stove to find the sweet corn kernels jumping! They were all popping up and down in the skillet! (There was very little oil in the pan and it was very hot, I think that’s what made the corn kernels jump). So I decided to name them jumping corn.

Whether your corn is jumpy or not, this is a quick and easy recipe to make. I had it with left over quinoa. I decided to use the Chili Lime Salt I made a few days ago instead of regular salt. You can use regular plain salt and some paprika instead.

Ingredients

Kale – 1/2 bunch
Sweet Corn – 3/4 cup
Onion – 1/2
Garlic – 1 clove
Red Wine Vinegar – splash
Nutmeg – pinch
Chili Lime Salt (see this post for recipe) or substitute with salt and paprika
Sugar – pinch
Oil – 1 tsp

Slice the onion very thinly. Shred the kale into thin strips. Mince the garlic. In a non stick pan or skillet, heat the oil and add the onion and let it brown. When browned, sprinkle the sugar on top of the onion and push it off to one side of the skillet.

Turn the heat to high and add the corn. Position your skillet so that the heat source is right under your corn and not under the pile of onions on your skillet. Cook the corn about 3 minutes or till it turns brown (and jumpy!).

Now toss the onions and corn together. Lower heat. Add the garlic, saute till fragrant, about 30 seconds. Then add the kale, nutmeg, red wine vinegar and chili lime salt. Cook on medium heat till the kale is just wilted, about 2 minutes.

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