When kale suddenly became the new fad superfood, I tried making kale chips, hated them, and promptly went on with my life thinking that kale was an awful thing that I wanted nothing to do with. Soon after, I discovered that I had been eating kale my entire life without knowing it because my grandmother only used the dutch word and called it boerenkool. So what did she know that I didn't? What was her secret?
Boiling the crap out of it. That was the secret.
If you boil kale, it seems that it loses that terrible bitterness it gives off when you eat it other ways and turns into a yummy hearty vegetable that happens to make potatoes delicious in the process.
Kale Stamppot
Ingredients
- 5 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 onion, diced
- 5 cups of washed and chopped kale
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/4 cup of milk
- 1 tbsp butter
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Combine potatoes, onion, kale and bay leaf in a large pot
- Add enough water to cover the ingredients
- Bring to a boil
- Boil for 25 minutes or until potatoes are tender
- Remove bay leaf
- Drain
- Drain
- Add milk and butter to pot
- Mash all ingredients together
- Serve topped with sausages if desired
This meal may be a little heavy for summertime, but I just got back from spending some time with the Dutchie side of the family and it made me feel morally obliged to cook something from the motherland. For the record, I also bought a big hunk of gouda and a loaf of rye bread that I've been devouring and I'm competing with my cousin Meghan to see who can learn Dutch the fastest, so there might be a slight trend here. Regardless, I regret nothing!!
Doei!
(Dutch for bye. See? I'm learning!! Eat my dust, Meghan.)
