Wednesday, February 23, 2011

And then we came to the valley of the kale chips, and Lefties must needs go through it

It's that time again. Every lefty in suburbia, your correspondent included, is signing up for a CSA share, and making self-congratulatory references to it on our blogs (check!). We are rededicating ourselves by the thousands to the purported deliciousness of kale, the alleged culinary uses of kohlrabi and the idea that we actually will carve all those spring radishes into interesting, edible table art.

But snark aside, I think CSA shares and urban farming are great, and those of us who can access and afford them should throw our support behind them. In addition to the good vitamins and minerals, all that righteousness gives our hair and skin a healthy shine!

My CSA comes from next door-- beat that, locavores. Our neighbor Charlie operates Rad Urban Farms, a farm composed of small, local growing areas mostly in backyards that are capably farmed by Charlie. The produce is shared by the owners of those plots and a few others who, like me, have no land but like to google for kale recipes and support sustainably, locally grown food.

But the thing about seasonal food-- and I know I'm not the first to observe this-- is that we aren't used to eating what grows where we live, when it's ready for eating. Everybody wants tomatoes and raspberries, but these don't grow in New England in the spring. What does have a long growing season in this part of the word is the dark and leafy green.

Which brings me to the kale chips.

Last summer, when the kale was abundant and I didn't want to make another pot of soup with it, I made kale chips by roasting it in the oven with salt. It's not that bad. Really. Salty and crunchy, and doesn't really taste like much. Even Audrey ate some. But at one point I spied Scott looking down into the bowl of kale chips, and his expression was that of a man with a long and tiring life ahead. A life of travails and hardships. A life where the women-folk would bake tough green leaves sprinkled with kosher sea salt in the oven and offer them as "chips."

At least I never tried to make kale muffins. (But this woman did: www.365daysofkale.com). So here's to a more productive search for new kale recipes this year, and possibly even some palatable solutions for collard greens that do not entail 19 hours of slow simmering with hammy boney things in the pot.




3 comments:

Ellen said...

Now you're talking my language! When I can't meet you at motherhood, I can definitely identify with kale. Love the post!

Kenneth Sutton said...

Oh, you're singing my tune! I signed on again with Boston Organics (they actually deliver, year-round), when I discovered they had added the unattractively named "dogma box," which is sourced as close to Boston as possible. (I can go buy my own organic berries in winter if I want them, thank you.)

But that means I have several quart bags of baked butternut squash in the freezer, and I've been reduced to making turnip pickles.

And no, they aren't as good as what you can get in sushi at even lousy sushi places.

dillard said...

I'd never heard of Red Urban Farm's idea of backyards -- so cool! Love it! And I had to laugh at poor Scott's reaction to kale chips. I can see that happening at our house. My favorite kale recipe is basically just throwing it into white bean soup (with sausage). There's something about eating kale that makes me feel virtuous, but I confess I don't actually love it.