Sunday, May 1, 2011

Kale Chips !

I heard about and read about Kale Chips for many months before I even tried them.  Jasmin and Mariann at Our Hen House raved about them several times, and recipes abound on the internet.  And  I was curious about trying another way to get more kale in me and others, but frankly, it wasnt until I saw a tiny bag of them for almost 5 bucks at a grocery store that I thought, " Ok, I need to try these and see if they can easily be made at home".   And the answer is : Yes !   Super simple to make, and highly addictive eating !   Here are several recipes, and then the way I do it :)
From Vegweb : Kale Chips 
A raw recipe , and how I ended up making them :

Baked Kale Chips  

1 bunch curly kale
Olive Oil
Seasoning salt, nutritional yeast...herbs maybe
Wash, destem and dry the kale either with  a run through the salad spinner, or rolled up into a clean towel and patted dry; then tear it into bite-sized pieces ( the kale, not the towel ! ) Or, wash, tear, then dry. They'll shrink to about half their original size, so tear accordingly.
Drizzle with a tiny bit of olive oil ( or mist with olive oil using your Misto like Theresa did at a recent gathering ! )
Sprinkle with a little bit of seasoning salt ( Spike is good ! ) and a little nutritional yeast sprinkled on is good, too.  You could also use a curry seasoning, hot chili pepper flakes...whatever you like :)
Massage it all together to lightly coat the kale pieces with the oil and spices.
Spread the kale pieces out in a single layer on cookie cooling  rack, (preferably the kind made with a small wire grid ) and set that on a baking sheet, so that the leaves are surrounded by air, not laying on the baking sheet.  This will help them cook evenly and get nice and crisp.
Bake at 300 degrees for 10-13 minutes.   Watch very carefully so they don't burn. 
I made some a week ago, and kept them in the fridge, sealed up.   They got kind of limp, so to recrisp them, I tossed them into a baking pan ( no rack) and into the toaster oven at 300 and baked them for, ( I'm not kidding ) ...3 minutes.   Just enough to lift out any moisture that was making them soft, but not enough to cook them anymore.  Perfect !
Next week I'm going to experiment with some herbs rubbed into the kale, along with the oil.  Maybe I'll remember to take pictures !