Kale is one of those "hippie greens" that only true health nuts know how to prepare, right? Actually, Friar Tuck and Robin Hood were probably pros at cooking and eating the stuff — centuries before the term "health nut" came into existence. Kale has been lending its powerful antioxidants to folks across the globe since before the middle ages.
Kale, a member of the cabbage family, is grown in tons of varieties and can be found in everything from Chinese cooking to Christmas dinners in Scandinavia to the shopping carts of those health nuts and hippies with which most Americans associate the vegetable.
Truth be told, Kale is abundant and popular all around the world and has been for hundreds of years. So why don't Americans eat it? Is it because we're blinded by its familiar cousins collard greens, broccoli and cabbage? Possibly. But more probable is the notion that we just don't know what to do with it.
So, what do we do with it? It's too tough to eat raw, and it's not often you can order it at restaurants to get an idea of how it is generally eaten. But, I'm sure, like me you don't want to miss out on its rich amounts of Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Calcium... and you won't have to if you roast it or sauté it.
The vegetable is wonderful tossed in some olive oil and then roasted for a few minutes and sprinkled in coarse sea salt. Or, I found an ingenious recipe for sautéed kale here.
It's a new year and we're going unrefined and back to our roots — our medieval roots, that is.
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