#KALE

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Did you ever imagine I’d be writing about kale chips? I sure didn’t. I might be going through some sort of a weird food phase. I’m bored? It feels adolescent, like I should be yelling at you: It’s not a phase! I’ve been making a lot of vegetarian food that you might find on Pinterest. Like, I actually made one of those pizzas on a cauliflower crust (It was really delicious, but had absolutely nothing to do with pizza.). I also made this vegan olive shake that Kenji wrote about over on Serious Eats (It’s great!). We normally eat vegetarian food at home, but it’s usually the same sort or salad/bread/cheese/veg combos. Lately I have been tackling recipes that are fussier, veganier. I’m just trying to keep things interesting.

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(Maybe it is a phase.)

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But back to the kale chips. The recipe comes from A Modern Way to Eat by Anna Jones, which is a cookbook that I absolutely love. I am much more comfortable with vegetarian cookbooks from the UK than I am with anything being published in the States. The Brits manage to maintain some humor and perspective. Throughout A Modern Way to Eat, Jones refers to non-whole grain pasta as “normal” pasta, which I find totally endearing. Anna Jones was trained and worked for many years with Jamie Oliver, but has also built an impressive resume in her independent work.  She’s a good writer and is clearly passionate about home cooking. Her enthusiasm is contagious and her laid-back attitude is encouraging. There are several sections in the book where she suggests (usually through clever graphics) that you should experiment and create your own recipes. They manage to be fun and inspiring rather than an overwhelming bore (which so often this technique can turn into). She’s a really fresh voice in food, and I look forward to future books and the rest of her career. It’s worth noting that the book is also a stunner. One of my favorite photographers and all-around good guy, Brian Ferry, took the pictures and they’re awesome—he also helps keep the book real. It is one of those rare books that is as good looking as it is interesting, and I want to cook almost everything in it.

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We loved having a tin of these on the counter, they were a great snack after work while we were preparing dinner. They’re packed full of flavor.

Sesame Miso Kale Chips (from A Modern Way to Eat by Anna Jones. I have the UK version of the book, but it is being released in the US in April.)

  • 200g curly kale, washed and spun dry*
  • 1 teaspoon miso paste
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • juice of 1 lime
  • 3 tablespoons sesame seeds

Preheat your oven to 250°F and line a couple of baking trays with parchment paper.

Remove the ribs from the kale, and tear kale into chip-sized pieces (keeping in mind that they will shrink) and place them in a large bowl.

Mix the remaining ingredients in a small jar and give them a shake. Pour the dressing over the kale and toss well to make sure every leaf is coated. Arrange the kale in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake the kale for 30 minutes. Take them out of the oven, and loosen the kale from the parchment with a spatula. Put the trays back in the oven, turn the oven off, and leave them until they have crisped up, about another 30 minutes.

Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

(*The measurement on the kale does not need to be exact. It’s a tricky thing because stems are being removed and you might remove more or less than me. I used 1 bunch from the market, which was probably more than 200g. You want the leaves to be coated in the dressing, without too much excess. Don’t overthink it.)

11 comments to “#KALE”

  1. I’m obsessed with Anna Jones and this book! It’s so stylish and delicious. I had been wondering why I didn’t see it mentioned much- I guess the fact that it hasn’t been released here yet would explain that (I also have the UK version). I will have to try these kale chips next!

  2. What color/kind of miso?

  3. You can use whatever miso you have here. The darker the miso, the stronger the flavor. I used a red. It you want something milder you can use white or yellow (or less red), up to you.

  4. This is 2015 and we are over kale! Just kidding. I recently made “Bread-free Cauliflower Grilled Cheese”. While it was delicious, it left me craving a “normal” grilled cheese sandwich, which I guiltily waited two days to make.

  5. I have probably made more than my fair share of weirdo vegan recipes. Someone has to try them though, no? Once I even made my own non-dairy mozzarella cheese to put on pizza and washed about a ton of flour to make animal shaped seitan nuggets for my little brother only to have them totally blow up during cooking and thus looking more like deformed zombies. I tried.

    Now this book looks interesting. I’m all about the Brits, always. I’m sorry to say I dislike the sound of kale chips though (don’t they taste like burnt paper?) but now that kale finally made its way into Swiss supermarkets (no, apparently we didn’t know about it until 2015) I might need to give them a try. Promise they’re delicious?

  6. Nora- I can’t promise they’ll be delicious to you. But I can say that, generally speaking, I don’t love kale. And I really, really liked these chips. I’ve generally been okay with the chip form of kale. Might be worth trying? : )

  7. I live in Egypt and was poking around my veg vendor the other day when I spotted a strange green substance. Thinking it was some local green, I picked it up and the vendor guy said to me proudly, “kale, for the Americans!” Kale is officially out of control. Now if only I could get miso…

  8. I know! I know! So awesome. (Although I also have to give a shout out to the Veganomicon for awesome vegan-ness and fabulous sense of humor.) I eat meat, but when such wonderful foods can be made with a vegan approach, I’d be a fool not to try them. Maybe that puts me in the Ottelenghi club, which by measure is a pretty fine place to be. Now I’m off to put this in my online cart….

  9. When I read “vegan olive shake” I clicked on it expecting some kind of wacky savory smoothie. I’m actually much more intrigued seeing it as a topping you would shake on to something like you would parmesan.

  10. I luuuuurve kale chips they are just such a simple snack that I can totally binge on and be OK!

  11. My goodness, Kale seems to be everywhere but curiously enough the “craze” hasn’t caught on in England. But as when America sneezes we catch a cold, i’m pretty sure it’s only a matter of time before we swap our spinach with some kale :)

What do you think?