I like to joke that people can tell I’m Dutch because I live mostly on kale and cheese.
It isn’t too far from the truth. Three or four of my meals each week seem to consist of a large bowl of kale with whatever I have on hand mixed in. Quite often I’ll make kale salad of one form or another, particularly if I have a lot of potlucks to go to. I’ve been making two or three batches a week for what seems the whole summer. My roommate and I have also been powering through kale chips at a prodigious rate. The people at the farm stand where I buy most of my kale have started pulling out extra bunches when they see me coming.
Even so, I find myself experimenting beyond these tried and true staples. Scrambled eggs with kale for breakfast, wrapped in hot corn tortillas? Yes. Kale with tomatoes and olives and capers? Yes.
The most emphatic yes has certainly been this concoction, born of an almost empty fridge and a new bottle of balsamic vinegar crying out to be tried. It’s the perfect dinner for those evenings when a thunderstorm has just swept through, and everything is dripping and misty and cool, but not so cool that you want a soup or something heavy.
Garlicky Braised Kale
- olive oil
- 1/4 onion, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, slivered
- 2 or 3 stalks of kale, trimmed and chopped
- 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 egg
- salt and pepper
- 2 T grated Parmesan cheese
Heat the olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until the onion starts to turn translucent. Add in the kale and stir until it has wilted, then add the balsamic vinegar, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, over low heat.
Bring a small pot of water to a boil to poach the egg. There are lots of ways to do this; I’m sure you have your favourite, so just go ahead and use that. I like to move my pot off the heat before sliding in my egg, then return it to lower heat and cook it for about 3 and a half minutes.
Scoop the kale into a bowl, sprinkle it with the Parmesan, plop the egg on top, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Bon appetit!
1 serving.
