Cripsy Kale Bento (#165)

I had to name this seasonal bento after the ingredient I NEVER thought I would bring for lunch: kale — boerenkool in Dutch, making this a Boerenkool Bento.

Apologies for the grainy picture: I was in a hurry to get to the dentist and didn’t notice my camera was set to high ISO.

Left tier
Mandarin slices, grilled eggplant (from a jar), radishes, sweet peppers & green olives, gherkin and crispy kale, oven-roasted with olive oil and African Peper Mix (recipe below).

Right tier
Leftover red cabbage slaw (which tasted much better after a night of resting), toasted pecans and apple.

On the side I brought my tumbler with Monday’s spicy parsnip soup.

And if you’re thinking that this lunch is too low on carbs and protein, you’re right. I also brought sandwiches with mushroom pate and tofutti cream cheese.

Oven-roasted crispy kale

This recipe for crispy kale is super easy!

Ingredients

• 250 grams kale leaves
• olive oil
• 1 tablespoon thyme
• Fairtrade African Peper Mix (or ground pepper & sea salt, maybe a tiny bit of garlic powder)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. Wash and thoroughly dry kale leaves.
3. Tear leaves from stalks and put in a big bowl.
4. Sprinkle generously with olive oil, the thyme and African Peper Mix (or freshly ground pepper and sea salt) and mix well.
5. Spread evenly on a baking sheet in the oven.
6. Bake for about 20 minutes until crispy — keep an eye on them or they may burn!

This kale is great for a snack, a side dish or as a topping on your salad (add it at the last moment or it’ll get soggy).

Check out What’s for Lunch Wednesday (week 79) for other great bentos!

Part of Zesty Palette’s ongoing Bake Fest #4 hosted by Tomato Blues

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The End is Nigh

We’re halfway December and the end of our CSA season is nearing. Next week’s bag will be The Last!

But you haven’t even had a chance to enjoy any of this month’s organic vegetables… So, here are my veggies of weeks 48, 49 and (freshly picked up today) 50.

Amelishof organic vegetables week 48, 2010

• leek
• kale
• capsicum
• corn salad
• red beet (waiting for me to make Nigel Slater’s red beet cake…)
• pumpkin

Amelishof organic vegetables week 49, 2010

• brussels sprouts (on the stalk, just for fun!)
• parsnip
• corn lettuce
• kohlrabi
• onions (red & white)
• Elstar apples

Amelishof organic vegetables week 50, 2010

WOW, what a mega bag of vegetables we got today! Remember the Invasion of the Broad-Leaved Endive Heads? This time there were even more! It makes a nice green background for the rest of the veggies ;) And Ringo totally went for it… Crazy cat :)

• kale
• endive
• carrots (not washed, so they’ll keep longer)
• root parsley (on the left of my pile of carrots, hiding behind the…)
• kabocha pumpkin!
• celeriac
• cooking pears
• Jerusalem artichoke

I’m not planning our menus and we’ve been eating out, visiting relatives et cetera so next to this HUGE new batch we still have some veggies of the previous weeks to use up: beetroot — but like I said; I’ve got great plans for that ;) — parsnip, kohlrabi, leek and 1 small pie pumpkin. Maybe I would be wise start planning again ;)

Say, Elsje: if you see anything you’d like to use for our 24 mini-marathon dinner next Friday, just give a shout!