Kale, Quinoa and Roasted Mini Pepper Salad

Inspired by @kalememaybe’s quinoa and roasted mini pepper salad with crispy chickpeas, roasted red onion, feta, dill, and honey lemon vinaigrette

Make the dressing in the serving bowl: 3 tablespoons of olive oil; 3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar; 1 tablespoon of honey; juice of 1 lemon; 1 teaspoon of garlic powder (or 2 cloves of garlic, grated, or finely chopped); 1/2 teaspoon of cured sumac; and 1/2 a teaspoon of dried oregano

Cook 1 cup of quinoa according to it’s instructions

Remove large stems and chop 1 lb of Tuscan kale

Toss both quinoa and kale with the dressing and set aside for a few hours (or overnight)

Arrange 1 red onion, 1 rinsed can of chick peas, and 1 lb of mini bell peppers on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper and sumac and roast at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes; allow to cool

When ready to serve, add the roasted onions, chick peas, and peppers to the kale and quinoa, and also add 1/8 to 1/4 of a lb of crumbled feta and 1 lb of sugar snap peas, strings trimmed, and cut length-wise

Kale, Romano Bean, or Broccoli Puttanesca

This is a mash-up of Samin’s Long Cook Vegetables, that I make all the of the time, and Mark Bittman’s Pasta Puttanesca that I also make all of the time.

3 tablespoons of olive oil
4 anchovies
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 small onion or 1 shallot, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon of crushed red chili flakes
1/4 cup of oil cured black olives
2 tablespoons of capers
3 springs of parsley — no need to remove the leaves or chop
2 lbs of romano beans — or lacto kale, broccolini, broccoli rabe, or string beans
14 ounces of tomatoes — I like Muir Glen Fire Roasted, but any will do

First, a warning, there is no way around the fact that the veggies need to cook for 2 hours, I’ve tried to cut the time back, I’ve tried this in my Instant Pot, it just isn’t as good. Don’t make this is you are hungry. Don’t start at 8:00 PM — unless you are in Spain and plan to have dinner at 11:00 PM. Don’t think that you can cook it on higher for a shorter amount of time and get the same result. No dice.

So, the real first, set a large Dutch oven or similar pot over low heat. Add oil, anchovies, garlic, onion, red pepper flakes, olives, and capers and stir to combine. Gently cook mixture, stirring occasionally, until the garlic and shallot are just very lightly sizzling, 5 to 7 minutes — Do not brown

Second, reduce heat to as low as possible and add the romano beans (or whatever vegetable you are using), the parsley, the can of tomatoes, and 1 teaspoon of salt, stir to combine and cover the pot

Third, this is the part that requires patience, allow the beans (or whatever vegetable you are using) to cook about 45 minutes until the steam has caused them to completely wilt and then check them and stir them and put the lid back on and cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes more, stirring every 20 minutes or so

Kale, Spinach, or Baby Broccoli Pesto

This is adapted ever so slightly from Chris Morocco’s recipe. I’ve eliminated pistachios because they aren’t nut that I keep on hand, although, with the broccoli, I used almonds, which worked very well, and I’ve added lemon, because what don’t I add lemon too. And then, I’ve ever so slightly tipped the vegetable to pasta ratio by using 8 ounces of pasta rather than twelve.

Ingredients

1 large bunch Tuscan kale, ribs and stems removed, or 6 ounces of baby spinach or a large bunch of spinach, tough stems trimmed off, or 8 ounces of baby broccoli
8 ounces pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
zest or juice of lemon — for the spinach pesto, which I made last week, I used the zest, for the kale, which I made last night, I used the juice of the same lemon, both worked equally well
1 garlic clove
1 ounce Parmesan, finely grated, plus more for serving
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Freshly ground black pepper

Blend olive oil, zest or juice of lemon, garlic, Parmesan together in a food processor or blender

Bring medium or large pot of salted water up to a boil and cook the kale, spinach, or broccoli until bright green and wilted, about 30 seconds and the scoop out with tongs and transfer to a rimmed baking sheet or large mixing bowl; keep water boiling and add pasta, cooking to the packaging specification

Allow kale, spinach, or broccoli to cool slightly and then wring out excess water with your hands — if you are using broccoli, vigorously shaking works better than wringing

Add kale, spinach, or broccoli and 1/4 cup of pasta water — scoop it out of the pot while the pasta is cooking — to the food processor or blender and purée until smooth

A quick note about this, if you are using a blender, you’ll end up with more of a paste like Chris, if you are using a food processor, you’ll end up with more of a very fine purée

Scrape the pesto into the bottom of a large bowl

Reserving 1/2 cup of water, drain the pasta and then transfer it to bowl with pesto; do this, I don’t want to say as quickly as possible, don’t rinse the pasta, don’t worry about shaking all of the excess water, you want to add the pasta while it’s still hot and 1 tablespoon of butter and toss adding pasta cooking liquid by the tablespoon if needed

Serve with additional Parmesan and fresh pepper

Serves about 4, or 2 if you are hungry and don’t feel like making much more

Tortilla-less Tortilla Salad

An all Trader Joe's middle-of-a-busy-week-tortilla salad minus the tortilla. But if you have chips around, toss them in!

Approximate quantities: 3-4 cups of chopped kale; 1 cup quick-cooking brown rice; 1 cup black beans; 3 carrots, sliced into thin disks; ½ of a cucumber, sliced into thin disks; 1 avocado, cubed; 1 cup sugar snap peas, strings removed, ends trimmed; 2 cups of grilled chicken breast, roughly chopped; drizzled with olive oil, Cholula's chili lime hot sauce, salt, pepper, and grated Tillamook cheddar cheese

Serves four as an appetizer or two as a main.