Kale matters.

[Ricard with an H]

Of course you-all know I'm growing masses of Cavelo Nero though I'm also growing some curly kale. A dwarf veriety that came recomended as extra tasty by (I can't remember).

I always disliked curly kale and just realised why, I only ever bought it from grocers and always in small quantities that were cut-up. This pre-cut kale included the stalks, the stalks are gross so put me off eating curly kale for 50 years.

Shame-eh ?

Is there something persnickety about me that I don't enjoy those horrible stalks ? I'm now in love with curly kale, a dwarf type that I'll share with you when I find the seed packet.

Lovely, same routine as with cavelo nero. Blanch im boiling water, drain, olive oil, salt and pepper. Lovely. I made garlic infused oil which I'm finding very useful.

Has anyone done egg omelette with kale ?

[alan refail]

The only bit of kale that's worth eating

[Ricard with an H]

That looks like sprouting broccoli and you don't like kale ?

I love broccoili though I'm not keen on the common-or-garden type with the massive head. What I do love is sprouting type with masses of leaves as well as the heads.

[oldherbaceous]

I love kale, i could eat plate fulls of the stuff.

[sally wright]

Dear Richard,
then may I recommend the Kale variety Pentland Brigg. This is a kale which will produce white sprouting type broccoli spears in the spring. Perfect for broccoli and Stilton soup.
It may also interest you to know that if you leave your sprout plants in after the harvest of sprouts is finished the buds that did not form usable sprouts will turn into acceptable spears of broccoli. This is useful if you are short on space and cannot grow both kinds of brassica.
Regards Sally Wright.

[Monika]

Same here, OH. We eat a lot of it in all kind of guises. Until this last season, we grew cavolo nero, dwarf curly kale and Russian red kale every year and, for the first time, this last year, also "seaweed kale". From now on, on our reduced allotment, I think we'll stick to cavolo nero and dwarf curly kale.
The great thing about any kale is that it seems to survive anything the weather throws at it .... and it tastes good.

[Beryl]

If you just pick young leaves of the dwarf curly kale from the centre the stalks are not tough at all and it will soon sprout new growth. Leave the outside leaves alone and compost when turning yellow.

Beryl.

[Ricard with an H]

This is getting very interesting for me and thanks for all the helpfull comments, it is a dwarf variety of curly that I planted that I had bought from our local nursery.

Right now I have two sixteen foot by eight foot raised beds dedicated to cavelo Nero, dwarf curly and sprouting broccoli. Great thing about the raised beds is that I built a lip all around with slate lathes so I can clamp enviromesh down with spring clamps, this has meant zero wind damage. You may remember my first crop of cabbage were pulled out by the wind.

Pentlandite Brigg is now on our kitchen chalk board so thank you Sally for that recommendation.

I doubt I'll ever grow cabbage again, last years crop was good but full of slugetts between the leaves even though I did treat the soil with those new type pellets and didn't have much slug damage anywhere else.

I just cooked a large pan of kale, finished in garlic olive oil, salt and pepper it becomes a side dish to just about anything and goes on pizza.

[Motherwoman]

How do you make your garlic olive oil Richard?

MW

[Ricard with an H]

Fantastic, I love it when I can help.

I crushed lots of cloves into a primary soaking container then filled the container with oil. Probably one third volume crushed garlic to two thirds oil. I let it soak for two days then drained the clear oil into a posh bottle and replaced the oil I had drained away with fresh oil and again draining off clear oil after a couple of days and so on. I tasted the drained oil each time to check I was getting garlic flavour before eventually dumping the spent garlic.

I did do some shaking and whisking the crushed garlic.

I'm now wondering if the spent garlic could have been used.

[oldherbaceous]

Afternoon Richard, you are always a help on the forum, whether it's starting a interesting post, adding interest to a post, or just as important, making us all smile.

[Motherwoman]

Thanks Richard, I would have been a bit wimpy on the garlic I think but I like the flavour of garlic so will go for the big whammy! What type of olive oil did you use? Virgin, or does supermarket own brand do the business with that much other flavour?

And your posts are always interesting!

MW

[peter]

I'm now wondering if the spent garlic could have been used.

Me too Richard, me too.

[FelixLeiter]

Of course you-all know I'm growing masses of Cavelo Nero though I'm also growing some curly kale.

No, I didn't know that.

I'm now in love with curly kale, a dwarf type that I'll share with you when I find the seed packet.

Might it be Winterbor? In all ways it is identical to Pentland Brigg but more compact with better uniformity. i grew Pentland Brigg for many years but have gone over to Winterbor as an improvement. It has a red-leaved counterpart, Redbor, which is equally worthwhile and strikingly ornamental to boot.

[Ricard with an H]

What type of olive oil did you use? Virgin, or does supermarket own brand do the business with that much other flavour?

And your posts are always interesting!

MW

Now I'm embarresed.

Don't bother using expensive olive oil for garlic infused oil unless you are a neat oil user, olive oil like wine is a matter of taste and can be quite personal. First pressings are always more full in flavour, I use two types of olive oil. One is for dipping and as a dribble on salads, the other for cooking and in this case an infusion.

If you want a subtle garlic flavour in a salad or in this case on cooked kale then an infused general,purpose olive oil is fine though always take an opportunity to taste different olive oils. I prefer Spanish oils though most supermarket shelves are full of Italian oils, I also prefer some cheap oils to very expensive 'boutique' type oils but it really is a matter of choice.

Another fabulous oil to make is a herb infusion though herb oil infusions don't make the oil cloudy like a garlic infusion so you don't need to skim the clear oil off.

Olive oil and infusions of olive oil can get a bit obsessive and so some people can get very precious about what they are tasting. Dipping bread in oil rather than using butter is a good way of tasting oil for your preferences though like with wine I find different breads have a differering effect on the flavour of olive oil.

Have you ever used first cold pressed rapeseed oil for cooking and salads ? Some people love it and it's the new 'boutique' oil. I don't enjoy it for salads and dipping though it works for some cooking.