Mothership Meals and Satellite Saucers: Kale-alicious (No, Really)

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Kale-alicious (No, Really)

I dropped my i-phone down the stairs yesterday, and a troubling lack of screen options has plagued me ever since. My screen looks like a Barnett Newman painting, one of the ones that is white with a black fuzzy line going up and down. Not good.

So I have no pictures of this fabulous salad that my friend Liz showed me how to make. I was going to have a picture of Bragg's next to the Gomasio, two seriously hippie condiments that I normally try to avoid. Well, I love Gomasio (a mixture of sesame seeds, seaweed and sea salt), but Bragg's is usually in the wool socks-with-Birkenstocks category. I'm not going there. I already decided, a couple decades ago: not for me.

I softened up a little on the Braggs a couple years ago when I taught a cooking class with a Jamaican woman who was a former raw foodist, and addicted to Bragg's, and very cool and interesting. She made me buy some for the class and we had to use it in a bunch of things. I had to admit, it was pretty good. It's a salty condiment, and how can you go wrong there? Well, the problem is, it's to hippies as Marmite is to Australians: a gross weird thing that people are bizarrely, annoyingly attached to. Then you try it, and then you realize the most annoying thing about it is how passionate everyone is about it. And you can deal with that. (Okay, I've never tried Marmite, but there is something kindred in the passion inspired by these two weird, umami-flavored cult foods; and, how bad can it be?)

Anyway, this was the salad that actually inspired me to buy a small bottle of Bragg's.

If you kind of sort of like kale -- sometimes -- but you LOVE seaweed salad, and you wish you could figure out how to eat more kale, oh boy do I have the salad for you.

Kale Salad

1 bunch kale. I have only used the purple kind, which is one of the more challenging kinds in my opinion, so I'm sure it would be even better with the friendlier lacinato/dinosauar kale

Juice of one lemon

Maybe a tablespoon of Bragg's Liquid Aminos

Maybe a tablespoon of gomasio (or just plain sesame seeds)

Maybe a couple tablespoons of olive oil

Cut the stems out of the (washed) kale and tear it into bite-sized pieces. Toss with the lemon juice. Add the Bragg's, to taste. Don't let it get too salty. Then add the olive oil and the gomasio. Toss it really well and let it sit for about ten minutes so it can wilt a tiny bit. It's really good, and weirdly like a seaweed salad.

Then get your wool socks out and find a potluck to go to. There's no way around it. This is potluck food.

I will try to blog about the exact meaning of Bragg's, and how it is different from soy sauce even though they are both made from soy... but for now let's just it exist in all its strange and wild mysteriousness.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...: I would SO love to have seen a picture of that salad...and I'd love to borrow Food Matters when you're finished with it!; February 27, 2009 at 5:21 PM
Larissa said...: I'll try to drop it in your mailbox in the next few days.; March 1, 2009 at 12:55 PM
Anonymous said...: Do you know about Crispy Kale? It's like nori crossed with a potato chip(sort of) : Heat oven to 350 and set a rack on the lowest level.
6-8 cups kale, stems removed
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp apple cider vinager
1/2 tsp sea salt

Spread kale on sturdy rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and vinager and toss. Place on lowest rack and bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven and toss again so kale can get evenly crispy. Bake another 10 minutes or until kale is crispy.. It should be lightly browned and crispy to the touch...it should crackle, not bend. Remove from oven and sprinkle with salt. I can almost get my kids to eat this....; March 5, 2009 at 4:20 PM
Larissa said...: Crispy kale is awesome! Thank you for posting that!; April 26, 2009 at 6:43 PM

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The Mothership Method

(Or, how to sit down for dinner with your family without completely losing your mind)

It would be great if kids AND parents wanted boiled chicken and baby carrots every night for dinner. But, too bad, we picky parents want spicy, exotic, fun foods, and our kids want, well, sorta lame foods.
Here's the solution: break it down. Serve the dish deconstructed, and let everyone put their own dish together at the table. Sort of like tapas, or smorgasbord, or tacos. Or how in some parts of China you get a bowl of rice, and everything else is in the middle of the table and you take what you want for your own little bowl of rice. That way everyone gets to eat what they want, parents don't have to nag their kids, and kids get to feels some ownership over their meals. Plus, kids get exposed to the look and taste of the foods you hope they will one day love. But it's not just tacos. You'll be amazed at what can be served with the Mothership Method.

Ten Tips to Get Through Dinner Without Having A Nervous Breakdown

1. Accept That Kids Are Picky. No need to freak out on your cooking ability, or look at your kids like there is something wrong with them. It's called "neo-phobia", and it's just how they are, especially from ages 3-6.

2. Serve Meals Broken Down. Even grown-up meals like coconut curry or linguine with clams can be served in their elements, making them more appealing to kids. Grown ups can assemble their own jumble of deliciousness at their own plate while kids take on the pared-down elements.

3. Push if it Works, But Don't Nag If It Doesn't. Some kids are okay with being expected to taste everything on their plate. Others aren't. I think it's okay to push kids -- but not if you're turning dinner into a battlefield.

4. Suggest a Smell. Smelling a new food is easier than tasting it, and can sometimes provide a kid with the information needed to take that scary first bite. But don't confine smelling to new foods. Smell favorites, too, and help them develop their sense of smell by making a game out of it.

5. Don't Ask "Do You Like It?" Instead, try, "What does this remind you of?" or, "Would your cousins like this?" or, "Does this taste salty or sweet?". Asking if they like it or not gives kids too much power and ends the conversation. Besides, we don't care if they like it! We just want them to keep tasting it until it is familiar.

6. Don't Get Frustrated. Imagine being in Taiwan, or Nairobi, or Rome for the first time. Would you eat everything on the local menu? New foods are scary and gross. Our kids need time to learn about the foods that we eat.

7. No SubstitutionsThis is family dinner, not a diner. You, in all your wisdom, have provided foods that are healthy and delicious and appropriate for your children. There is something on the table for them to eat. Period.

8. No Snacks Before Dinner. This can be the hardest with our hectic schedules and hungry kids. But children who come to the table hungry are more likely to eat than cause trouble.

9. Put Peer Pressure To Your Advantage. School children are more likely to accept new foods if the alpha girls in their group accept them. Swap healthy food ideas on playdates.

10. Involve Your Kids In Cooking, Shopping, and Gardening. The more experience kids have handling and preparing a variety of foods, the more likely they are to eventually accept the foods. (But don't get upset if they help you make a complicated wonderful meal, and then refuse to eat it.)