Creamy Ham and Greens

 

So, last night was a bit of a scrounge around and see what I could find to make for dinner.  I need to go shopping but I'm really not motivated to do it because we have two late sporting nights ... tonight and tomorrow ... and then it's Friday ... and then we have another Christmas party ... and I'm waiting on the $250 food voucher that should be coming today ( it was part of the deal we got when we bought our new fridge last week )  And ... And ... And ... 

What I came up with was ... spanish tortilla ... potatoes baked like for spicy potatoes but without the spicy.

I had some ham in the freezer that needed using, I had silverbeet, rainbow chard and kale in the garden that needed picking, I had a bit of cream leftover from Rory's birthday carbonara and I always have garlic and onion on hand .... 

This is what came of those ingredients.

1.5 cups slivered ham, chopped ( I had a triple smoked one )
3 cups mixed greens, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 a red onion, diced
cream,  (I only had 1/4 of a cup and I think it was plenty !)

Start with a bit of olive oil in the bottom of your pan, add garlic and ham.  I started with the heat pretty hot and then turned it to medium pretty quick.  Once the garlic and ham have started to brown, add onion.  Cook a minute or two more than add the greens.  Cook a minute or two and then add the cream.  Cook a minute or two more ... or until the cream is no longer runny and seems to be coating the other ingredients.  Serve hot.  So yum !!

This served the four of us.

Kale, Avo & Asparagus Salad

I have kale growing out my ears in our garden ! I've done the Roasted Kale a number of times and last night tried Khrista's Raw Kale and Avocado Salad for the first time. It is DELICIOUS ! I can't wait to make it again ! In fact, I might be making more for my lunch today ...

I changed it a bit though ... I made this to serve four.

A colander full of kale from my garden, stems removed & shredded
A punnet of cherry tomatoes, halved
1 avocado, chopped
Asparagus, 2 bunches
Olive Oil
Juice from 1 small lemon
Sea salt, to taste
Sesame seeds

Put the kale in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice and sprinkled with salt to taste. Now get your hands in there and massage it a bit. This softens the kale (and according to Khris, makes it tastier and easier to digest)

Saute asparagus in a bit of olive oil til cooked to desired tenderness.

While that is cooking, chop your tomatoes and avocado and mix into kale leaves.

Top with sauteed asparagus and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

YUM YUM YUM !

Kale Crisp

When Steamy Kitchen posted this recipe for Crispy Kale, I had to try it !! And I liked it ! I munched on it while dinner cooked and then served it to the family as one of the side dishes with that dinner ! Yum Yum Yum. I haven't seen kale since but as soon as I find some more, I'll be making this again !!

It was super easy. All the specifics are over at Steamy Kitchen and you should pop over there and read before you try this but basically you just chop a bunch of Kale (take the center bit out), drizzle with olive oil, bake in a 180C/350F oven til crispy. Took about 15 minutes in my oven. The trick is to not let them burn !! I had a few burned ones and they were pretty bitter !! Once you take them out of the oven, sprinkle them with sea salt and yum !! yum !! yum !!

I need to go find me some kale ...

Eeek ! It's 6:04am. My computer time is finished for this morning. I'm going to hit publish and be on with my day !!

Raw Kale & Avocado Salad

This year in our CSA farm share, we received many heads of Kale.

Kale is a highly nutritious vegetable with powerful antioxidant properties.
Many shy away from it because they have no clue how to prepare it!
I discovered an amazingly tasty way to prepare it raw. I first found this recipe HERE. The link leads you to the recipe and a video tutorial on how to prepare the recipe.
I will post the recipe with the ingredients I usually include below :

• 1/2 head kale, shredded (curly kale is the best!)
• 1/2 cup tomato, chopped (I've used heirloom in the above photo, grape and cherry are great too!)
• 1/2 avocado (set some chunks aside to add after mixing.)
  
• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
• Juice from 1/2 lemon (give or take)
  
• sea salt, to taste
  
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne (optional)
• I like to top mine with raw sunflower seeds
• other toppings to try: raisins, pine nuts, hemp seed nuts, sesame seeds, 1-2 sheets untoasted nori (snip up with scissors into little bits)

Preparation
In mixing bowl, toss all ingredients together. Mush everything together (with hands) to created marinated/wilted effect on kale. This makes it much tastier and easier to digest.

P.S. HERE is a very helpful website, for those times when you get a vegetable and scratch your head going "Whatever am I going to make with this!" Believe me, I said that quite often the first year we had our farm share! :)