Kale (Red Russian) in seven photos

An early garden success, coming after the snow peas, is greens. Walt planted chard, which we've already harvested and which we will harvest again today. I planted two varieties of kale this year.

The prettiest by far, for right now, is the Red Russian kale to the left. We started harvesting that on Saturday. The dinosaur or black tuscan kale that I planted has, as predicted by some of you here, been more susceptible to insect damage.

Each kale leaf needs to have its tough central rib removed. You can do it with a knife, or with scissors. Or you can just grab the stem in one hand and strip the tender greens right off by pulling the leaf though the other hand by pulling. (Is that clear?).

To the left is about half of the kale I harvested. I washed the leaves twice before I de-ribbed them, and once again afterward. You don't want any sand, grit, snails, or slugs in with the cooked greens. Then I cut the leaves into fairly large pieces, all of about the same size, to prepare them for cooking.

I read on one web site that it was a good idea to blanch the leaves in boiling water for five minutes before seasoning and sautéeing them. French recipes often call for blanching vegetables before seasoning and cooking them. I blanched them in two batches like the one to the right.

Blanching (par-boiling) gave the leaves a nice deep green color. They're only slightly cooked when they come out of the hot water. Drain them in a colander to remove any excess moisture before continuing.

Finally, I sautéed three or four shallots (small onions and/or some garlic would be good too) in olive oil and seasoned them with salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and hot red pepper flakes. Then I added the greens to the pan and sautéed them for about 10 minutes, adding a splash of white wine when they started drying out. They were still slightly crunchy in texture, and sweet and tasty.