Incredible Kale Recipes

Submitted by CSA members John and Josephine Adams. You will be thanking them after you make the delicious Portuguese Kale Soup!

Portuguese Kale Soup

1 lb kale
1 lb potatoes
1 lb smoked sausage (I used turkey sausage)
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped carrots
2 tsp chopped garlic
2 Tb olive oil
2 Tb butter
2 qt chicken, beef or pork broth
3 lb peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 cup kidney beans
salt and freshly ground pepper

Strip the leaves from washed kale, and cut diagonally into wide slices. You should end up with 6-8 cups of lightly packed kale. Wash, peel, and chop potatoes, and keep in cold water. Prick sausage; blanch in boiling water for 5-10 minutes to release fat. Drain; cut into 1/2 inch slices; set aside. In a large saucepan, saute onions, carrots and garlic in oil and butter, cooking until softened, about 5 minutes. Add potatoes and broth, and simmer, partially covered for 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked. Mash the potatoes against the side of the pot (or puree with some of the broth and return to the pot). Stir in tomatoes and kidney beans, and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add the kale and sausage, cook 5-10 minutes longer, and season to taste. (Serves 6-8).

P.S: I skipped the tomatoes and kidney beans to be kid-friendly, and it tasted fine.


Kale Chips

Wash and remove hard center rib from kale. Place large bunch of kale leaves in a big plastic bag and add 1 Tb olive oil. Shake the bag evenly to distribute a very thin layer of olive oil to both sides of the leaves.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 4 minutes on each side. Sprinkle salt to taste.

Leaves will turn very dark green/brown, but taste great!

Early July Field Report

Peppers, tomatoes and potatoes are all looking strong. The tomatoes have already started to set fruit and so have the peppers.

Tomatoes

The corn is also looking good. The first planting is almost 4 ft high. Hopefully we can keep the deer away from it!

Corn

The deer continue to challenge us. We had hoped they would have stayed on the chard but this past week they moved on to lettuce. That led us to try one more step to deter them, a product made out of mint and rosemary oil that is certified for organic growers. So far so good.

I am finding fawns between the two fences on a regular basis and today I was able to document the incident, which will be forwarded to the proper authorities!

This week's share - July 1 & 3

Lettuce, snap peas, turnips & turnip greens, basil and cilantro.