Good news first. I made kale chips.
Easy, easy, easy to do. Cut main center stem out of kale leaves and rip them into medium to large-size pieces. Wash and pat dry. Put on parchment-paper lined cookie sheet, sprinkle with kosher salt and mist with extra virgin olive oil. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.I have no experience with kale, so I didn't know what to expect. When I put one of these chips into my mouth, my thoughts were (in this order):
Bloody hell, what have I put in my mouth?
Fragile--like dried leaves.
Salty.
Bitter.
I need another.
There was a disaster with the main dish I was making, and Andrew and I ate the entire batch of kale chips while we were trying to figure out how to salvage something edible for dinner.*
Dinner was supposed to be a pizza with a polenta crust. I was using the crust recipe from a Polenta-Goat Cheese Skillet Pizza recipe from Vegetarian Times.
Things did not go well, as is evident in this picture:
The polenta never got as thick as I thought it should, and I finally gave up and put it in the oven anyway. This is after another half an hour of baking, and it was still liquid-y in the middle. I had to scoop it into the trash.The next day, I researched what I might have done wrong. Turns out, instant polenta is different from the only polenta I've ever seen. The polenta I've purchased comes in a tube and is in the refrigerated section near the tofu. Instant polenta is a dry, ground product. It's like cornmeal. Hell, it may be cornmeal. I'm still a little unclear.
So, this went into the trash, and we filled wheat minisub buns with a mixture of cooked zucchini, portabellas, kale, garlic, and pasta sauce. We added some reduced-fat cheese, wrapped them in aluminum foil and baked them for 15 minutes. They were delicious, but it was a dish I've made before, so it can't count as recipe #24.
I think I'm going to try to find another recipe to use the second half of that tube of polenta. I'm not ready to admit defeat yet.
*By "Andrew and I," I really mean that I ate nearly all the kale chips and Andrew had perhaps three.
Oh no! I hate when I fail at a recipe. :/ Polenta is cornmeal. The "recipe" is 4:1 cups water to cornmeal. So if you were using 1 c. of cornmeal, first boil about 4 c. of water. Then when the water boils, salt it and slowly pour in the cornmeal, whisking the whole time. This makes a TON of polenta. I always have leftovers, but I usually make these polenta cakes out of the leftovers:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/anne-burrell/hard-polenta-cakes-recipe/index.html
They're lovely.
Good luck on your second go-round!
Caitlin
See, this is why I love the Internet. Thanks, Caitlin!
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