Though it's hard to remember, there was a time when few of us had heard of kale salad. Back in those gastronomically prehistoric days, kale was, in fact, occasionally consumed in cooked form. And it was still delicious. If you've maxed out on raw greens, here are some alternative ways to prepare this celebrated superfood:
1. Serve it Greek-style: blanched, squeezed, chopped, and doused with olive oil and lemon juice. Top with a handful of crumbled feta: you won't regret it.
2. Throw it into a tangy, garlicky pasta sauce.
3. Add kale and other greens to a hearty, phenomenal, bean purée–thickened minestrone soup.
4. Blend it into a smoothie with coconut milk, pineapple, and banana. (Okay, this is technically raw, but we're going with it.)
5. Layer it into a creamy, prosciutto-studded torta. (Your kale's about to go bad but you don't have time for a labor-intensive cooking project this week? Blanch, squeeze, and freeze the greens—they'll be ready when you are.)
6. Stew kale with a bit of salt pork, butter beans, and aromatics.
7. Sauté it with kimchi and soy sauce and use it to flavor a Korean-spiced chicken slider.
8. Top bowls of brown rice and quinoa with steamed kale and other vegetables and drizzle with a lemon-tahini sauce.
9. Melt it into a pot of nutty cooked farro to serve with roast chicken.
10. Fold wilted, garlicky kale into tacos with chorizo and roasted fingerling potatoes.
Anya Hoffman is contributing editor at the James Beard Foundation. Find her on Twitter at @anya_hoffman.
