Everyday Garlicky Kale

I use a lot of veggies here on The Kitchen Paper. I also ramble on and on about how great they are, how awesome it is to have a Mom with a massive garden, how grateful I am to live in an area with co-ops and organic grocery stores and all things veg-positive. I'm super lucky, but not every else is — nearly 30 million Americans live in food deserts! That means they don't have easy access to affordable, good-quality, fresh fruits and veggies. Even in the Portland area there are numerous neighborhoods that are considered food deserts!

Nationwide, nearly one out of every 10 people in America are affected by food deserts, and yet 60% of Americans don't even believe they exist in their own communities! THEY DO! {Here's a source for more info!}

Naked Juice is stepping up with their #DrinkGoodDoGood campaign, where they'll donate 10 pounds of fresh produce to communities in need for every #DrinkGoodDoGood selfie we post! This is on top of the 250,000 pounds they've already contributed! It's seriously that easy — take a selfie with some produce, post it with the #DrinkGoodDoGood hashtag and Naked Juice will take it from there. Who's in?!

In the spirit of keeping it fresh, simple, easy, and accessible, I'm giving you my favorite garlicky kale recipe today. I make this multiple times each week, usually for breakfast with a fried egg on top, or as a side with a sausage for dinner. It takes about 5 minutes, packs some serious garlic punch, and has yet to get old in my book. Plus, it has 2 main ingredients (minor ingredients being water, salt, pepper, and olive oil).

Here's some nitty gritty about this recipe: It's all about timing and heat. When I say "hot pan" in this recipe, I MEAN HOT PAN! Super hot. I put my cast iron on the stove turned all the way up, and wait until it's nearly smoking. Then, I put just a little olive oil, immediately put in the kale and water, immediately put a lid on it, and leave it alone for a minute (maybe 2, depending on how tough that batch of kale is). When you remove the lid, add some more olive oil along with the garlic, salt, and pepper. At this point, you're actually nearly done. Mix for 2-3 minutes so the garlic gets barely cooked, all the water cooks off, and some pieces of kale blacken a bit from the pan. That's it! THAT IS IT! So easy, so quick — just don't be afraid of the heat and the timing. Admittedly, I'm all about the spicy raw-ish garlic — if you aren't, you should cook it a bit longer.

Shouldn't everyone have access to ingredients for a recipe like this? Lemme know if you post a #DrinkGoodDoGood selfie!

Everyday Garlicky Kale

• Author: Mary
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 5 mins
• Total Time: 10 minutes
• Yield: 2-4 1x

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 6 cups fresh kale leaves (ribs removed)
• 3 tsp olive oil
• ¼ cup water
• 2 large garlic cloves
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper

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Instructions

1. Roughly chop the kale leaves, and prepare the garlic by removing the skin (if you're mincing, do it now. Otherwise, get your garlic press prepped!).
2. Heat a large, heavy skillet (with a lid) over high heat. When it's VERY hot, add 1 teaspoon of olive oil, immediately followed by the kale and water. Cover, and let cook for 1-2 minutes. When the kale is fully steamed (it will be moist and bright green), remove the lid.
3. Press in the garlic, add the salt and the pepper. Stir briskly so as not to burn any kale, but allow for some darkening of leaves while the water cooks off and the garlic slightly cooks — 2-3 minutes.
4. Remove from the heat, and serve immediately.

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