Kale Quiche

Slightly mis-shapen quiche

Due to Father Spice’s well documented love of kale, I thought I would pick some up at Eastern market when Gina and I went a couple of weeks ago.  I ended up getting a very large bag of it for a good price, and have been trying to think of creative kale-uses ever since.  Last weekend I decided to bake the first of the kale into a quiche, which seemed like an easy way to use some up and feed myself and my roommate for a couple of nights.  It was a roaring success, and very easy to make- just remember that the crust needs to chill for an hour or so before you roll it out, so make that part first, then wander around the house watching Say Yes to the Dress for a bit.  This crust was excellent- very flaky and crispy, and I was glad that I didn’t trim the edges but just folded them over for an even better crust-to-egg ratio.  I would probably add more cheese the next time I make it so the flavor really comes through, so I’ve upped the amount in the recipe below, but if you want to pretend to be health-conscious for a night use a bit less.  You could also add some sauteed onions, garlic, herbs, etc, to up the flavors, but I was being lazy so just focused on the kale.

If you ignore the stick of butter, it looks healthy!

Kale Quiche
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen/Bon Appetit and Martha Stewart, among other random internet findings
Serves 4-ish

Equipment: Pie dish/tart pan (I used a 9-inch pie dish), food processor or pastry cutter, rolling pin

Ingredients:
For the crust:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (one stick) butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/4 cup ice water
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the filling:
1 bunch kale (I don’t really know what this means- I used half of a very large bag)
1/2 tablespoon oil
4 eggs
1/4 cup half and half or milk
1/2 cup grated cheddar
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Start by making the crust- first put a couple of ice cups in some water and set aside.  Put the flour and cold sliced butter into a large bowl and cut with a pastry cutter until the butter is the size of small peas. Alternatively, pulse in a food processor a few times.  Add the iced water one tablespoon at a time (or drizzle into the food processor while running), only until the dough comes together and you are able to form it into a ball.  It should just stay together without falling apart.  Form the dough into a ball, wrap in clingfilm, and chill for at least an hour.

For the filling, first remove and tough stalks from the kale pieces.  Rinse the kale in water, and the saute with 1/2 tablespoon oil for 3-5 minutes or until bright green and tender. Let cool.  Add eggs, half and half, the cheeses, and salt and pepper to a bowl and whisk to combine, then add the kale and mix that into the egg mixture as well.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. To assemble, roll the chilled dough out into a circle and press into a lightly greased pan.  Pour in the egg mixture and fold over or trim the excess dough.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until crust is light brown and filling puffed.  Up the temperature to 400 for the last 5 minutes or so if you want the crust to get more golden.

Sweet Potato and Kale Soup

Thanks to Spice cousin Alida for the beautiful Polish bowl!

It’s true, Father Spice has finally gotten to me with his kale-obsession. I was craving kale hardcore last week and so went and bought two huge bunches from Whole Foods. Two bunches of kale for one person (who is going away for the weekend and thus needs to eat it quickly) is, apparently, quite a lot of kale, but I have been enjoying it thoroughly. I made some delicious kale chips to snack on, steamed it as a side to my pancake dinner tonight (surprisingly a good combination), and put it in this soup.

About this soup. It’s awesome. The chunky sweet potato base makes it very filling– I tried eating bread with it once and it was way too much. It also kind of blew my mind because it’s a puree-type soup that I made without a blender. You can just mash the sweet potatoes once they are boiled, and then add the other stuff! This is a revelation that has me itching to go back and see if I can adapt all those soup recipes I’ve passed over because they require a food processor or blender… except that suddenly it is 60 degrees out and I am not craving soup quite so much anymore.

The curliness is deceiving-- use more kale than this!

But yes, this soup was delicious. I would definitely make some adjustments next time though, and have reflected that below. 1) Not enough kale! The kale-y flavor kind of got lost in the sweet potato and spices, and I just didn’t put enough in to begin with. 2) I definitely saw why sweet potatoes have the “sweet” in the name. Again, probably my fault as I omitted the pepper flakes when making it because I wasn’t feeling the spice. It probably would have done a good job at balancing the soup better. 3) I totally skimped on the raisins because I felt like a lot was already going on. They were actually awesome in the soup, and I added more every time I heated up leftovers.

Just bubbling away. It smelled awesome, by the way.

And finally, a word of (obvious) warning: I forget every time I make soup myself that it will be much hotter than soup I have heated up from a can. Do yourself a favor, and let it cool for a few minutes before you dig in! The hot pieces of kale were especially vicious.

Sweet Potato and Kale Soup (Adapted from KERF)

Equipment: Pot, potato masher or blender, big knife

Ingredients
About 2 pounds of sweet potatoes (What college kid has a kitchen scale? I used two huge and one mini one, for a very thick soup)
2 cloves garlic
1 can light coconut milk
1 cup other kind of milk (ie cow’s, but I used almond)
1 tsp garam masala or 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cumin, and pinch of cloves (or other spice combination of your choice!)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
4 cups kale (Ie however much kale you want)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup raisins

Method
Wash sweet potatoes and cut into small (about 1 inch) cubes, leaving skins on if you want awesome pieces of chewy skin in your soup (you do). Dice the garlic. Add a bit of olive oil or cooking spray to a large pot over medium high heat, and add potatoes and garlic. Add coconut milk, other milk, and spices. Make sure potatoes are covered in liquid, otherwise add a bit more. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about thirty minutes, or until potatoes are soft.
While potatoes are cooking, wash and trim kale of thick stems and tear or chop into bite-size pieces. When potatoes are soft, turn off heat and mash with a potato masher in the pot (or blend). Potato pieces should be gone but pieces of skin will remain. Add raisins, kale, and vanilla, and cook 8-10 more minutes, until kale is bright green. Allow to cool slightly, and serve!