Potatoes and Kale with Tahini Dressing

Kale is probably the best thing that happened to vegetables since the tomato. Let's face it, tomatoes are the undisputed king of the veggies. They're juicy, they come in all colors, most prominently red, they're sweet and they have umami, and they're even more delicious because you can only get good tomatoes for a few months out of the year (we won't talk about those sorry, good for nothing excuses for tomatoes that sit blithely like toads on logs at the supermarket--sort of like eating musty water). I realize that I'm taking a chance by even mentioning kale as second to the tomato.

But every time I eat kale I feel like a brand new person. I feel like the Green Goddess herself sipping on a cup of pure chlorophyll in the sunlight of all things wholesome. In the summer when everything is growing and blooming, opportunities to feel this way are plentiful. In the winter, you have your potatoes, winter squash, canned things you might have put by during the summer, and whatever the supermarket offers. We won't go there. It's really depressing. Actually, the last time I went to the grocery store and saw the produce department looking more like an old wrinkly man than a young lithe veggie damsel, I turned around and didn't even bother picking among the ruins. It was that bad.

That's where kale delivers. Green and hardy, ready to be your nutritious dinner even on the darkest of days. I don't have a concrete recipe for you, but that's because this dish is really easy, and you can build it from step one to suit your dining needs. Cube some potatoes (or sweet potatoes, or winter squash) and bake at 400 until fork-tender (try 20 minutes to start). About ten minutes before the potatoes finish baking throw in some thinly sliced garlic.

Meanwhile, steam a big bunch of kale, curly or lacinato (a.k.a. dinosaur kale; you could also use mustard greens or collards, but be prepared to cook those longer) until the color turns brighter, but not so long that it loses its texture (about 6-10 minutes).

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, make a dressing. I used tahini (sesame seed paste; most grocery stores have it nowadays), soy sauce, sriracha, rice vinegar, and a little honey to round out the acidity of the vinegar. You could use anything you have on hand--peanut butter instead of the tahini, tabasco instead of sriracha, fish sauce instead of soy sauce, lemon juice or apple cider vinegar instead of rice vinegar... The thing I try to remember when making a dressing like this is to have a little bit of the tasty flavors--sweet, salty, sour, and umami. Mixed properly, these flavors will make a darn good dressing that is infinitely mutable.

Toss the potatoes (I like to bake them until they start to get brown and crispy) and kale with the dressing and serve over basmati rice.

Now, here's a tip for peeling garlic. I know you can buy jars of pre-minced garlic, but I defy that sort of thing. It doesn't taste like real garlic. I also love the smell of garlic on my fingers if you can believe that. The peeling part can be monotonous, though, especially if you have really short fingernails. What I like to do is lay the garlic cloves, one at a time, on the cutting board and whack them with a heavy knife. A quick whack is all that's needed. This may take a little practice because there's a fine line between getting the skin to loosen and smashing the clove to a pulp, but it only takes a couple tries to get it right. The peel should slip right off.

My Smelly Valentine

This is what obsession looks like. It all starts with one clove lightly sauteed in butter, and before you know it you're popping raw cloves into your mouth like jujubes, roasting whole heads, and adding five cloves where the recipe calls for one. I don't like to think of it as a problem, though. More like a healthy infatuation.

for those fleeting winter days

now that winter is being edged out by the jonquils and forsythia, i can't help but feel a little twinge of nostalgia. even though i spent more time stressing about where to park my car this winter so as to avoid getting stuck in the snow and being unable to get to work, i am feeling singularly poetic about those sleepy, chilly winter days where, if i had the time to do so, i would have curled up under flannel blankets and had cup after cup of hot chocolate.

alas, fare thee well thou frigid old broad. the spring nymph is here. but i will indulge in one final comforting winter soup before boxing up the snow boots.

curried sweet potato soup:

in a hot oven (400?) bake your sweet potatoes. i used one large potato and one acorn squash. i would imagine that any winter squash would do just fine. bake until tender and mashable. mash them. i used a pastry blender, but i imagine this is what potato mashers are for, and in a pinch i have used biscuit cutters for this same purpose.

start sweating some chopped onions and garlic in olive oil. the finer chop the better because if you're like me you don't have a food processor or a blender (and if you have one the thought of cleaning it after an affair such as this makes your eye twitch), and this soup is supposed to resemble a creamed soup. so, let the sweating commence. go ahead and throw your spices in with the onions and garlic--curry, cumin seed, turmeric, coriander, red pepper flakes--because toasted spices have a nicer flavor, and the smell makes you salivate. oh, the anticipation!

once the alliums are transparent and maybe even browning a bit, add vegetable stock. homemade is always better (and shockingly easy to make from veggie scraps), but i'm not a teetotaler so do your thing. add a can of coconut milk (again, my preference is full-fat, but i'm aware that my youth allows me a certain degree of culinary hedonism). all quantities are subjective--basically, i made this recipe to serve three people, two of which are ravenous young men who are blissfully unaware of the concept of moderation. i probably used a couple quarts of stock and a can of coconut milk. throw in a few bay leaves for kicks. add the mashed potato and squash and bring the whole thing to a lovely simmer whereby the ingredients will all get comfortable with one another.

always, always, always add spices to taste. at this point you should taste what you've got so far and make any amendments you think necessary. i think i added a fair amount of sea salt and maybe some more curry powder. in hindsight i might've added a pinch of cloves, but that's just an afterthought. or maybe some garam masala, which is possibly my favorite spice in the world.

this soup is ideal served with some garlicky, homemade croutons. make this soup as often as possible while the chill is still in the air.