Easy Recipes

I tend to lag somewhat behind the trends. I generally dont discover television programs until theyve been released on dvd (and Im not talking about teensy artsy sleeper hits -- Im talking about shows like The Sopranos). I didnt hear The Clash until I was in college. Which was in the late 90s. I remember pulling a copy of London Calling off the shelf at the college radio station, bringing it proudly to a friend in the booth and asking if hed heard it. He nodded, waiting for the punch line. "Its really good!" I said. "Yeah," he said slowly, confused at my enthusiasm, "didnt you go to high school?" So its possible what Im about to tell you is no revelation. But even so, it doesnt dampen my enthusiasm. Have you tried kale chips? Theyre really good!

A quick google search on "kale chips" yields a couple hundred thousand results, so its possible you have heard of them. But if youre a laggard like me, get thee to the produce section and try some. Kale, everyones favorite superfood, is chopped into bite-sized sections, tossed with a wee bit of oil and a good bit of salt, and roasted in a low oven until crisp. The resulting chips are totally addictive, and best of all dont yield the usual snackfood hangover (in either your conscience or your gut). If youve been wondering how to get your daily dose of leafy greens, or what to serve as a slightly healthy superbowl snack, kale chips might be just what youve been needing. Who knew?




Kale Chips

serves ~2, depending on the size of your kale bunch and the extent of your snacky hunger

Im normally a fan of kale stems, and pooh-pooh any recommendations for stripping them from the leaves. But in this case, the stems will still be steamy-soft by the time the leaves are crisp, which isnt really so awesome. So in this case, strip the leaves. A fellow blogger recommended eating the raw stems with hummous, and weve also sliced them up and cooked them into a scramble to good effect.

1 bunch kale, any variety
olive oil
salt

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

Wash and dry the kale, strip the leaves from the tough center stems, and chop into pieces. Larger chunks are more dramatic, but will also shatter messily when bitten, so I aim for something a little larger than a potato chip (theyll shrink a bit). If you have one of those nifty olive oil spray bottles, mist the leaves, or else drizzle with a wee bit of olive oil and shake in a bag or between two bowls until the oil is evenly distributed and the leaves are just coated. Sprinkle with salt. Spread on a single layer on two baking sheets, and bake until quite crisp (~15-20 minutes). I turn them once during baking, but that might not be necessary.

I love when multiple problems can be solved with a single act. To wit: a few weeks ago I attended a soup swap (more on that later), and needed to clear out some freezer space in anticipation of the quarts I was set to receive. It was a tall order, since my freezer is stocked to the gills with who-knows-what (my freezer inventory system is sadly no longer in effect). A significant chunk of freezer real estate was taken up by a bag containing a half dozen or so day-old bagels. And, concurrently, I needed to bring a snack to said soup swap. Hello, bagel chips!

Bagel chips are ridiculously easy to make. The hardest part is thinly slicing the bagels -- next time frozen bagels call out for en-chipping, Ill probably try to slice them up when theyre still a bit frozen, so theyll hold together firmly for easy cutting. But beyond the slicing, its just tossing with some oil, seasoning if desired (I used everything bagels, so I just added a sprinkling of salt, but you can add pressed garlic, chopped rosemary, or whatever sounds delicious), and baking. As an inveterate toast-burner, I erred on the side of well-browned crispness, but you can pull them from the oven whenever theyre done to your liking. Its my new favorite way to clean out the freezer.

Bagel Chips

This is more of a loose guideline than an actual recipe, easily adapted to any amount of leftover bagels you may have in your possession (frozen or otherwise).

bagels, sliced as thinly as possible
olive oil
seasonings (salt, chopped or pressed garlic, fresh rosemary, etc.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the bagels in a bowl, and barely coat them with olive oil (If you have one of those olive oil misters or a pastry brush, those work perfectly, but if youre like me, just drizzle with a bit of oil, place another large bowl over the top, shake madly, and repeat as necessary until theyre all lightly coated). Toss with any desired seasonings, and turn out onto a cookie sheet(s) in a single layer. Bake, turning once or twice, until theyre cooked to your desired level of browning, ~15-25 minutes. They will crisp up further upon cooling.