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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 May 19

Temperatures will be a bit higher than normal in the afternoons this week. Take care of chores early in the day – then enjoy the afternoon. It’s time to smell the roses.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. If you haven’t already, it’s time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.

* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Don’t forget to water. Seedlings need moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

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