No more kale salads! This Caribbean Kale recipe is a fun way to change up the way you prepare this hearty green. The kale is cooked down until slightly charred then served with peppers, lime and smoked almonds and is full of deep and complex flavors. Serve this as a side to any protein or serve on its own as a warm salad!
Chef Claudia Galofre-Krevat
4
10 minutes
15 minutes
Caribbean
Side Dish
This recipe is traditionally made with collard greens over kale. Since collard greens can be hard to find, we used kale a substitute. Either green work great, so use what you can find! Smoked, salted almonds can be found at most any grocery store, however regular toasted almonds (or a nut of your choice) work well too.
2 large bunches lacinato kale (about 1 ½ pounds total), stemmed, leaves torn into 2-3 inch pieces
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp grapeseed or other neutral oil
Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
5 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 Fresno OR jalapeño chili, stemmed, seeded and thinly sliced
4 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal, white and green parts separated
1 tsp grated lime zest, plus 1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
¼ salted, smoked almonds, chopped
Dutch Oven
In a large bowl, toss the kale with 1 tablespoon of neutral oil and ½ teaspoon salt, rubbing with your hands to coat each leaf.
In a large Dutch oven over high, heat the remaining 1 teaspoon neutral oil until barely smoking. Add the kale, cover, and cook, occasionally turning the kale with tongs, until wilted and charred, about 10 minutes.
Push the kale to the sides of the pot and add the garlic, chili, and scallion whites. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds, then stir the mixture into the kale. Quickly add ½ cup water to the pot and immediately cover. Cook, without stirring, until the kale is tender and the water has evaporated, about 2 minutes.
Off heat, stir in the scallion greens, lime zest, and juice. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a serving dish and drizzle with olive oil and top with smoked almonds.
