Kale

So the blogging has been a bit slow lately. I have been working my day job at the Ojai Music Festival, which just happened this last weekend. I should be back and in full force now, just in time for the lovely summer veggies to start arriving in our shares.

I've been glad to see the return of the kale, basically. Kale is so tremendously good for you that it's hard to root against it, even as I struggle to use it. I knew whan I started to see its resurgence that I would not be able to recap all the wintery recipes that kept me going through the cooler months. So I started looking around, and this one caught my eye. Something about the parmesan over the top made it sound like a lovely meal for an alfresco dinner.

This recipe is copied directly from 101 Cookbooks.

1 pound / 16 oz / 453g red beans, soaked for at least 4 hours preferably overnight, then drained
10 cups / 2.5 liters water1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil1 medium onion, chopped
28 ounce / 800g can whole, peeled tomatoes, drained and chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
3 small-med (1/2 pound / 8 oz) new potatoes, chopped
2 stalks celery2 cups / 13 oz / 370 g pearled farro1 - 2 cups water or vegetable brothfine grain sea salt to taste1/2 head / 9 oz savoy cabbage, chopped1/2 bunch / 4 oz kale, de-stemmed and chopped

Parmesan and olive oil to serve. Or do what I did with this bowl - whisk together a bit of leftover harissa and some olive oil for a spicier drizzle.

Cook the beans in a large pot or stock pot with the 10 cups / 2 1/2 liters of water. When the beans are cooked, remove a generous scoop of them from the pot, place in a bowl and mash them well. Return to the pot.

In a separate pan, saute the onion in the olive oil over medium-high heat. Just when it begins to color add them to the bean broth. Stir in the tomatoes, carrot, potatoes, celery, and farro. Bring to a boil again, then dial the heat down to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the farro is cooked through, 20 - 30 minutes. Be sure the vegetbles are cooked through as well. If you need to stir in more water or broth do so one cup at a time until the stew is the consistency you like. Taste. You are going to need to salt quite a bit. Start with a teaspoon and go from there until the flavors become bright.

Stir in the cabbage and kale, and cook a few minutes more, until they collapse. Serve topped with plenty of freshly grated Parmesan and a generous drizzle of good olive oil (or alternately harissa oil/feta).

When you go to reheat leftovers you may need to add water to thin the stew out, and then readjust the seasoning.
Serves 12.