Creamed Kale

You know me…I LOVE a bargain.  So the other day I bought this HUGE bag of kale for 99 cents!

 

And after I got it home, I had buyer’s remorse…

I thought…what am I going to DO with all of it!

 

So one night I used half of the bag to make Creamed Kale.  And another night I made a fresh kale salad. 

 

Here is the recipe for my CREAMED KALE…

 

 

First, I brought  some water to a rolling boil in a big pot and I added a good bit of kosher salt.  Then I dumped in more than half of that giant bag of healthy kale.  (Remember…even if you FILL the big pot with kale leaves, they will cook down to almost nothing…so don’t be shy about filling the pot.)  I blanched it for several minutes, pushing all of the leaves down into the boiling water. When the kale turned bright green I quickly drained the boiling water and shocked the kale in a cold water bath.  Then I drained and cooled it completely.  I even squeezed it with my hands to wring out ALL the water.  (You can also dump it into a clean dishtowel and wring out the excess moisture that way if you’d like.)

 

In that same pot I used to blanch the kale (only one pot to wash!) I added half a stick of butter and about 4 cloves of garlic, minced.  I cooked the garlic for several minutes to release the “nutty” flavor.  You can also add a SMALL sprinkle of nutmeg at this time. (Nutmeg is a strong flavor so use sparingly.)

 

Then dump the drained kale back into the pot and stir.  Stir in some heavy cream (1/2 to 1 cup…depending on how much kale you are using.  I used 1/2 cup) and allow to cook until the cream is reduced and somewhat thickened, stirring often.  This will take a few minutes.

 

The goodness of kale…and half of that HUGE bag was used…