In A Modern Way to Eat, Anna Jones writes about the changing ways we find ourselves eating, taking a refreshing new look at vegetarian cooking.
Roasted kale is a revelation. Here I’ve paired it with sweet roasted tomatoes, coconut, and a quick miso dressing. Roasting this wonderful brassica gives a deep savory flavor and an amazing crunchy texture, not too far away from the Chinese-restaurant crispy seaweed of my childhood.
During the winter months, I eat kale most days. I love its mineral-y sweetness. It’s good roasted, sautéed, steamed, blanched, slow-baked to a crisp, and even eaten raw. It’s a super-hardy plant with bubbly-looking fronds that provide us with some green freshness when all the other greens are taking the winter off. The most common kale is curly kale, and it’s the one found in most grocers and supermarkets, but deep-green dinosaur kale and the majestic purple kale work, too.
To make this a more substantial meal, you could add a handful or two of cooked quinoa or pearl barley.
4 servings
- Preheat your oven to 425°F.
- Halve the tomatoes and place them on a baking tray with some salt and pepper, a good drizzle of olive oil, the zest of both limes, and the juice of one. Roast for 20 minutes until blistered and golden.
- Next, pile the kale on to a baking tray with the coconut. Pour over the soy sauce and toss well until everything is coated. Roast in the oven with the tomatoes for the last 5 to 10 minutes of their cooking time, until crisp.
- Meanwhile, mix all the dressing ingredients together in a bowl with the juice of the second lime. Taste and add a little more seasoning or lime juice if needed, letting your taste buds guide you—remember, the dressing will be less punchy once it hits the salad. Pull the kale and tomatoes out of the oven and transfer to a big bowl. Toss with the miso dressing, adding a little at a time and tasting as you go, and serve still warm.
Copyright © 2014 by Anna Jones, published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC.
