Simple but effective! A recipe that uses one large bunch of greens and one can of white beans. This is my version of another recipe. I found the original to be overly bean-y, and while it called it a braise I feel that a lot of mainstream american cooking is afraid of truly braising a vegetable these days. You can’t “braise” kale for 7 minutes New York Times Cooking… that’s just, like, a sautee or something. Whatever. idk. You have to really cook it for food to be braised. It needs to be soft. Free yourself from the constraints of “vibrant green” and “toothsome” and just cook the shit out of your food from time to time. It might be less nutritious or whatever, but it’s good.
I feel like this is one of those recipes that really benefits from a bit of MSG. The cheese rind is good, but not necessary, imo, whereas the MSG makes a really big difference. The seasoning in this dish is important, because there is a possbility that you cook something that tastes like, well, kale and beans. Which are like, good foods, you know, but you don’t, strictly speaking, want to taste just… kale… and beans… The MSG in this dish helps everything to sort of cohere. Vinegar too. I like a champagne vinegar because it’s a little sweet. It’s important to balance out the sweetness in a vegetable dish. Adding a little bit of sugar to a vegetable dish is something that I’ve picked up from Chinese cooking, where many of the dishes have just a 1/4 teaspoon or so of sugar added to help balance the flavors. It makes a difference! If you don’t use a sweetish wine, add a pinch of sugar. Not too much, but a bit will help everything hang together.
Braised kale and white beans
1 large bunch kale (curly kale, whatever is the cheapest and biggest amount)
1 can of small white beans
1 yellow onion (small)
a few cloves of garlic
Optional splash of vermouth, white wine, something like that
1-2 cups of vegetable broth
Lot of pepper
1 tbs gochugaru (less if you want, haven’t tried it with regular crushed red chili peppers, because I really dislike the texture, if using a different red chili flake I’d use less)
1 tbs white wine vinegar
MSG
Dried parsley/ground bay/italian seasoning
Lot of olive oil
Optional: parm rind
Rinse white beans, let them drain. While that happens, wash and chop kale, chop garlic, slice onion. Heat a dutch oven or large saucepan over medium, add oil, let that heat until simmering. Add beans, let them fry until crispy on the bottom. Pepper, pinch salt, stir, fry a little bit more. Splorp into a bowl.
In the bean pan turn the heat down to low-ish, add move olive oil, garlic, onion. If you’re using a cheese rind add it here. Totally optional. Cook until softening. Add pinch MSG, lots more pepper, gochugaru, and whatever italian-ish seasonings you decide to use. I used dried winter savory, tarragon, ground bay leaf and dried parsley, because I had them. Deglaze with a good splash (probably an 1/8 of a cup, if I measured, which I did not) of vermouth if you happen to have some in the refrigerator, white wine would do, vegetable broth would also do, if using plain veg broth maybe a pinch of sugar too. Scrape up the bottom stuff, it should be thick and a bit saucy. Add kale, cooking down as necessary to add more kale. Add broth. Start with a cup, bring it up to a boil, and lower down to a simmer. If it gets too dry, add more broth, easy. Stir occasionally. Cook for about 15 minutes, the kale should be quite soft, not a vibrant green, then add the beans, cook for like, five more minutes? Taste, I added more MSG at this point, and salt, as well as more gochugaru. If you aren’t using cheese you probably want even more of the other stuff. Add vinegar, taste again, add more vinegar if you want. Final product should be very savory, a tiny bit spicy, a bit vinegar…y.
I’ve had this a few ways: with toasted bread (very easy), or I’ve had the leftovers over some parmersean polenta, which I make with 1 cup grits to about 4 cups water/vegetable broth and a bay leaf, cook over low heat whisking regularly for 30 minutes, then add a cup or so of parmersean. This also really wants a sausage with it, I feel. I haven’t really thought about turkey keilbasa, which was one of my staple foods for my entire childhood, for years, but eating this, I have to say, I wanted it. I made do with a couple of truly ancient beyond sausages that I found in the back of the freezer, which I defrosted in the microwave(!!! still can’t believe this works) and then pan fried. They were fine. When will they make a vegan kielbasa? Why is it just bratwurst and italian sausage (and soyritzo)? I feel like italian sausage is one of the worst ones, but I seem to be in the minority here, since it is the most common type of alternative sausage.