Simple Garlic Kale

This is a staple side dish for us. I saute kale or chard with garlic and ginger and a little braggs. My kids love it.

Perfect antidote to the buttery Christmas treats that seem to be making their way into every meal, workday, social gathering etc.
Looks delicious!

Sounds delicious! I shall try this with the Swiss chard my husband is growing in the greenhouse.
Green cabbage and leeks are delicious done with garlic and root ginger finely chopped, fried for a minute or so in a knob of butter in a large saucepan, turn the heat high, add a splash of water and the cabbage and leeks, put lid on and steam for 3-5 mins depending on how chunky the cabbage pieces are. Keep jiggling the saucepan so it doesn’t burn!

Great green dish…..goes well wit everythng right frm roti..to…bread..to rice.Thanks

These look so bright and fresh. I serve all my pasta dishes over greens of some sort. No need to cook, the hot pasta wilts them perfectly.

Why not try this? Spoon greens over creamy polenta, top with 4 tbs. very finely minced dried tomatoes (unsoaked), jimaca strips then with a good dollop of sour cream on top.

We love kale here! Mothering.com has a great recipe for “Emerald City Salad”– raw, chopped kale tops a bunch of chopped vegetables (red cabbage, red pepper, fennel, and parsley, I think), and then a potful of wild rice lays on top to wilt the greens. Then it’s all tossed with a lemon-garlic vinaigrette. It’s amazing!!!
My friend turned me on to what I like to call “kitchen sink smoothies.” Basically, in addition to the usual frozen berries, yogurt and juice, we’d add raw almonds, flaxseeds, shredded carrots, avocado, and yes, kale. These smoothies were often served as breakfast and lunch (sometimes dinner!) when my son was a toddler. I doubt there’s an easier way to get so much nutrition into a 2-yr-old!!

for a quick easy healthy supper, i’ll sautee greens and top them with a couple of poached or soft cooked eggs, and a some roasted crispy potatoes on the side. it’s exactly what i want, often, especially with fresh farmers market eggs.

Love cooking my kale this way. The aphids love my garden kale so I started snapping off leaves for the compost bin, then sick of losing good food, I put some of less infested leaves into a plastic dish pan of warm soapy water. After a while the aphids “slid” off the leaves to the bottom. No more lost kale leaves! Hope this doesn’t gross out anyone. The kale, by the way, keeps growing. My stalks are at least 3 feet high, like palm trees.

I am going to try it your way. My Mom used to make Kale growing up and it was cooked so long, it was super gross. I hated the texture, the consistency, it was a big pile of mush! And because of that, 25 years later, I have NEVER tried them again. Your picture looks much more appetizing. It sounds so simple too!

I’ve been getting lots of greens from my CSA. One thing I’ve done lately is blanch and then puree them with nuts, garlic, and olive oil. I spooned this pesto over scrambled eggs and onto soup.

i made garlic confit yesterday and used some of the oil and a few of the cloves from it to sauté with kale and it ruled.

This looks delicious! I made wilted spinach recently with pine nuts and fell in love with the combination. I think some Parmesan would make it perfect.

Can’t get enough greens, that’s for sure! I always eat the stems though, just chop them into tiny pieces and mix in! There’s good stuff in them stems 🙂

Have done a similar recipe but I first warmed the oil on low with the garlic in it. We like to have the garlic flavor through out the dish. Then went to high temp to saute the greens. Gives a broader garlic flavor. A few chopped, toasted almonds add a whole dimension. Try with fetta, gives it a Greek twist.

I love swiss chard (or whatever greens I have on hand) sauteed with chopped onion, a clove or two of garlic, some toasted pine nuts, and a handful of golden raisins. Sometimes I’ll grate a little nutmeg in the mix or add half a capful of apple cider vinegar for a little zing.
Another favorite is kale or collards sauteed with a little oil, garlic, and smoky paprika. It mimics the traditional greens-cooked with smoked meat flavor a bit. I’ll probably make it on New Years day with some black eyed peas and cornbread.

Gorgeous photos!

Yikes! Way too much garlic for me. I find one or two cloves is plenty–and I am half Italian. I offer this kale salad discovered at a macrobiotic bed and breakfast brunch at the beach in south Jersey years ago: same greens preparation as Heidi’s, quickly steam kale until bright green, cool and toss with whisked olive oil, salad spices, dash of mustard, good vinegar and enjoy cold. Even my kids loved kale salad. Enjoy those greens! Then there’s “scadole n beans” but that’s another Italian peasant garlicly greens story.

scissors also work great for trimming the leaves from the stem. then slice and dice the stems. beet greans are my favourite, but mixed greens are also excellent

Also . . glad that Heidi mentioned stripping the leaves off the stem by hand. Excellent advice! Using a gloved hand makes it even easier. I then tear the leaves into bite-sized pieces, put them in a plastic bag and pull out handfuls during the week. Kale, one of the most nutritious foods available as well as abundant, seems to be indestructible.

great recipe. i use two slices of thick bacon chopped finely with the crushed red pepper fried until done and then follow the rest of the recipe

Love garlicky greens. Use veg peeler to shave garlic t-h-i-n-l-y. Olive oil, warm the garlic, add the greens [tuscan kale is our fave]. then sprinkle sugar and balsamic for a nice agrodolce finish. So simple and so good.

This is basically how I cook kale and swiss chard. Thanks for the tip about removing the stem by hand – I’ve been cutting it out and it takes forever.
Sometimes I like mixing the greens into a bowl of polenta with mozzarella or parmesan. It’s definitely comfort food for the winter months.
(I made your lentil soup last night – so easy and yet so delicious!)

This sounds great! I have done something similar, but they always seemed to be missing something. I think this recipe will really help. I often add some chickpeas at the end. Really good!

Absolutely delicious side dish. I made it while waiting for the pizza to be delivered 😉 Totally lessens the guilt factor. I had something very similar while in Italy, but it was topped with a poached egg – a quick and easy dinner.

i love mixing garlicky greens like this with lentils or dhal for a garlickly dhal dish like masoor or toor dhal…after we’re back from vacation, i’ll try to post a recipe. One of the greatest comfort foods in my opinion 🙂

This looks fantastic! I cook kale in a very similar way, but before I start I marinade the about two cloves of garlic, about the same amount of ginger finely chopped and a large peeled tomato, diced, in the juice of half a lemon, before throwing them all in just before the end (actually, I usually throw in some small prawns with them but I know that won’t go down here….!)
Never occurred to me to use parmesan, or that much garlic, but I can hardly wait to try….
I think my liver will be crying out for some of this after Christmas.

This looks wonderful. Definitely on my list of tasty things to try.

This is exactly how I saute my kale and I also use the package mix from TJs: Sothern Blend of Greens from TJs (mix of collard, turnip and spinach). I saute exactly the way for 5 minutes on medium heat. After 5 minutes, I dump in the minced garlic along with some cherry tomato halves and saute for 1 minute more. Then transfer to a serving dish. I don’t add the parmesan cheese though. It is so delicious with the cherry tomatoes. You can substitute the greens with sugar snap peas and it is equally delicious. I love leftover for my lunch the next day and eat it cold like a salad.

I love, LOVE dark greens with sweet potatoes. I recently posted at my blog about a sweet potato apple bake with a side of wilted greens that made me weak in the knees. I am a huge fan of chard, spinach, and kale, not to mention collard, turnip, beet, and daikon greens, and they do pair so nicely with sweet potatoes and squashes.
My new favorite approach to greens, however, is Indian-influenced and designed to take the mickey out of the really strong greens, such as mustard greens, that I have a harder time enjoying. (Since we belong to a CSA, we get a lot of greens this time of year.) In any case, the approach is simple: Sautee some onion and some Indian spices (fenugreek, cumin, mustard, plus a small sprinkle of my favorite curry powder) in clarified butter, add the greens and cook down a little, then toss in just a little bit of leftover tomato sauce and a splash of cream. Cook it down, adding arrowroot to thicken if you need to. Sprinkle with salt. Devour.
As you can guess from the motley ingredients, this dish was a happy accident that resulted from an attempt to use up leftovers. However, this recipe has allowed me to make peace with mustard greens.
I never thought I’d see the day.

Thanks for a great post! This is my favorite food blog! I love garlicky greens and it’s nice to try new ways of preparing them. Question, do you not use the stalks? In the past I’ve used them for stock or chopped them finely to cook with the leaves. Any thoughts on what else to do with them?

This looks great, and I can’t wait to try it. I use leftover cooked greens for sort of a quick spanakopita–dock some puff pastry, add a layer of greens, sprinkle with some parmesan, top with another sheet of docked puff pastry, seal the edges and bake for about 20 minutes or so at 400F.
Merry Christmas and thanks for the recipe 🙂

A small dash of nutmeg and creme, instead of pepper flakes, turns this into a different – but equally yummy – dish.

This is one of my favorite way to eat greens! I usually add cayenne pepper (instead of crushed red pepper flakes), and it gives it a great kick. I often make a little bit of this in the morning, drape it over garlic-rubbed toast, with a poached egg on top of it all. Yummm.

i do something similar with mustard greens- though i boil the greens just a few minutes before tossing them in the skillet. and i always add a hefty sprinkling of cumin, too!

Yum! I saute beet greens and use them to top pita pizzas (delicious when paired with a couple anchovy fillets and an egg).

I love cooking spinach like this. So quick and yum! I usually throw some pinenuts and dried cranberries in with the olive oil while it heats then throw the spinach on top for a minute or so.

yum – THANKS! I’ll be needing to eat lots and lots of Greens after all the sweets from the Holidays.
Happy Holidays! 🙂