Kale has been one of the easiest and most satisfying things I have grown in the veggie garden. Just throw in a few seeds and stand back! Like most things that I have an abundance of it is now a case of finding things to do with all of this kale. Just the other night at our book club gathering one of my friends was espousing the delights of home made kale chips, so I went on line and found a bunch of instructions, recipes and tips for making the perfect kale chip.
So while the oven was heating up to fan force 170 degrees I went out to the garden with my scissors and chopped off a bunch of the biggest leaves. They had all been recently washed by the big rain storm we had last night so I thought I would just go about removing the stems which can be bitter and woody, and cutting the leaves into chip sized pieces. There was lots of little green bits all over the tea towel and my hands which on closer inspection were moving! So another good reason to wash your kale leaves it seems is to avoid having extra protein on your chips in the form of cooked aphids.
Not having a salad spinner I laid the leaves out on a tea towel and blotted them dry, which was time consuming to say the least. I then tried laying the tea towel on the open door of the oven to finish off the drying process, which seemed to be effective.
Then into the bowl with a tablespoon of olive oil or your oil of preference and massage the leaves until all the little ridges and valleys are coated. I then spread them out on some baking paper on my very old reliable baking tray and put them into the oven for about ten minutes. Timing will vary dependant on your oven so watch them carefully as they can burn quite quickly.
Once out of the oven allow them to rest for about three minutes as they continue to crisp up. Sprinkle with sea salt and sweet paprika or another topping of choice like Parmesan, Dukkah, chilli etc. There is always enough for a couple of batches so try a couple of different flavours. Most people I have heard from find these little morsels of goodness very addictive but I have to be honest and say I am not a fan!
No, they do not taste like chips, no, they are not as good as a packet of Smiths Salt & Vinegar and quite frankly it was laborious to make a handful of chips that were gone in three seconds. Particularly as I had to wash them about four times to get rid of the aphids!
So give it a try and see what you think, as I said many, many people enjoy these crispy little things, but me, I say - Kale No!
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