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Heirloom greens star in old-fashioned side dish

Recipe: Mom’s braised kale with bacon and onions

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED FEB 28, 2021

Braised kale in brown liquid — Kale cooked with bacon and onions is an old-

fashioned favorite. (Photos by Debbie Arrington)

This is kale for people who don’t think they like kale. It’s a Southern-style side dish, packed with flavor; salty, slightly sweet and savory all at once. It’s a method of cooking tender or baby greens taught to me long ago by my grandmother a.k.a Mom.

Tougher greens such as collards need slow cooking to bring out their best flavor. Tender greens (such as cabbage and mild kale) can be sautéed and braised in a fraction of the time. Like slow-cooked counterparts, this “quick” recipe still yields greens that melt in your mouth along with flavorful “pot likker,” the greens’ cooking liquid.

Part of this recipe’s appeal starts with the right kale. Choose a variety that’s mild and cooks quickly (or use baby kale). My favorite is Ragged Jack, an heirloom red Russian kale that’s as pretty to grow as it is delicious to eat. (It’s also good raw – but Mom would not approve.)

Mom’s braised kale with bacon and onions

Makes 4 servings

Kale in garden with stems, roots — Ragged Jack is a mild kale.

Ingredients:

12 cups kale, washed and cut or torn into strips

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 pieces bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces (optional)

½ cup onion, chopped

2 cups water

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons wine vinegar (white or red)

1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Prepare kale. Wash leaves. With a sharp paring knife, remove stems and center rib of leaves. Cut or tear leaves into strips. Set aside.

In a Dutch oven or other heavy pot, add olive oil and bacon pieces, if using. Over medium heat, sauté bacon. As bacon cooks, add chopped onion to pot. Sauté onions and bacon, stirring often, until onions soften, bacon is browned and fat is rendered.

Add kale to pot and stir, sautéing lightly. Add water to pot, stirring with wooden spoon to pick up little brown bits at bottom of pot. Stir in sugar, vinegar and Tabasco.

Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat. Simmer until kale is very soft, about 15 to 20 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve kale warm with spoonfuls of liquid from p

Bowl of raw kale — Kale cooks down significantly, so start with 12 cups.

ot.

Note: This side dish can be made vegetarian without bacon. Increase olive oil to 3 tablespoons.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

recipes gardening Sacramento cooking farmers markets cool-weather vegetables backyard produce produce management farm to fork kale

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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

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