Thursday, April 23, 2009

Adventures with Kale

A friend of mine recently gave me some Kale from her garden plot, and having never eaten, let alone cook, kale I was very excited.
I decided that my best option was to keep it simple so that I could really taste the kale. I heated some olive oil in a saute pan with some large diced garlic and pearl onion. Once it was nice and hot and the onions were almost clear I tossed in the Kale. I sauteed it for about 3 minutes, it got bright green and wilty and beautiful. I added a little salt and cracked pepper before eating.

It was heaven in my mouth. The only thing I would change was the amount of oil, less next time. Why have I gone this long with out eating kale?! I need to eat more again soon! Yum!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

The First Sangria of the Season!

I have been waiting all winter to make Sangria. Not only because it's so delicious, but also because it's my way of congratulating myself for surviving another winter. And now finally it seems warm weather is on it way.
So for my trial run I decided to make two flavors, both with white wine. The first was just a simple mixed berry sangria with a touch of blackberry brandy. The second however, was just plum and nectarine.
They were both fantastic. The plum one was very good, not too sweet and very clean tasting. Very refreshing. The berry one was sweeter, much better for something to serve with dessert, or just some vanilla ice cream. (Mmmmm)
The one part of this recipe that was true experimenting was the resting period. Generally I just make my sangria a day before and let it rest in the refigerator. But because I wanted the plum one especially to be very fruity, I decided to rest them in my closet for two days in tightly sealed glass bottles. (Dark cool environment) I think it made a big difference, and I'll probably continue to do it that way the rest of the summer.

As a side note, if following drinking this amount of sangria you are expecting to ride a bike anywhere...maybe consider getting a cab instead.

Cheers!