Roasted Garlic Dressing (for Kale or Potato Salad)

This recipe is adapted for one intended for potato salad (and I'm sure it would work well there), but I like it as a nice complement to a fresh kale salad, which needs a robust flavor without too much vinegar (since the kale is already a bit bitter itself).

Roasting the garlic takes about 1 hour (which you can easily do alongside anything else in the oven), but otherwise it's as quick to put together as any other salad dressing, and even tenderizes the kale a bit if you dress it ahead. Makes about 3/4 cup.

Ingredients

4 cloves roasted garlic (directions below)
1/2 cup very good olive oil
3/4 tsp. good coarse salt
1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1-2 tblsp. white wine or champagne vinegar
3 tblsp. microplaned parmesan

To roast the garlic: cut the head crosswise so that the tops of the cloves are exposed. Drizzle with olive oil and wrap in aluminum foil. Place on rack or pan in oven and roast until soft (about 1 hour at 350, though a shorter time at higher heat will also work). The garlic is about ready when you smell it, but be careful not to let it burn. When cool enough to handle, squeeze the cloves out of their papery skin.


To mix the dressing by hand, grind the garlic with the salt and a little bit of the olive oil in a mortar and pestle until a paste has formed. Scrape this into the remainder of the olive oil and add the vinegar, pepper, oregano and vinegar. Add the cheese and whisk to combine.

Alternatively, pulse the garlic with a little bit of olive oil in a food processor. Scrape the paste into the remaining olive oil, add the salt and the follow the directions above.

To prep the kale, fold each leaf in half lengthwise along the rib. Place the closed leaf on a cutting board and draw the blade of a chef's knife along the leaf just inside the stem. Wash the leaves well and then tear into bite-sized pieces. Drizzle dressing over the salad and toss gently to coat.

A Kind of Kedegeree

Foods that one will happily consume at 3am don't always transition well to daylight hours. The below is my invented version of a dish that I later learned was a well-known British adaptation of an Indian dish called "Kedgeree"  - a dish of curried rice and flaked fish topped with an egg - which is great for a savory breakfast or brunch (or end-of-evening adventure). Though I've only ever prepared it one serving at a time, I could imagine it easily being adapted for a crowd, with eggs cracked over the top of a cast-iron pan full of the rice mixture, quickly cooked-and-crisped under the broiler. And because my time in Kenya combined with early farm-share experience (and good nutrition!) means I like adding kale to everything, well - there's kale in this as well. The slight bitterness of hardy greens offers a nice complement to the rich, creamy texture of medium-cooked eggs in a range of dishes. 


Ingredients

1 egg
1/4 cup basmati rice
Preferred curry powder (mild, medium or hot)
2-3 leaves kale, or other sturdy, dark, leafy-green
1-2 tbsp. coconut milk
salt
olive oil

Cook the rice in a small saucepan: combine the rice with double its volume in water and about 1/4 tsp. of salt. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer, until the water is just absorbed, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, rinse and chop the kale. Add 1 tbsp. oil to a non-stick sauté pan over medium heat. Add the kale and cook with a dash of salt until darker green and just wilted, 4-5 minutes. Remove kale from pan and set aside. 

When the rice is ready, mix in the coconut milk and 3/4 tbsp. curry powder or to taste. 

Cook the egg in the same sauté pan over medium-low heat for 5-6 minutes - ideally no harder than medium. It's nice to leave the egg "sunny-side-up," which can be done more easily by covering the sauté pan for the last 2-3 minutes of cooking.

Assemble and serve: in a bowl, add first the rice, then the kale, and top with the egg. Alternatively, mix the kale and rice and serve with the egg on top. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

As noted above, the rice and kale portion could be multiplied as needed to fill a 9-inch cast-iron pan. Make small divots in the rice and crack 6 eggs into them, then cook under the broiler for 4-5 minutes, or until just medium. Serve hot.