Kale Chips

The little 8 X 4 garden box I planted in the spring is exploding. Pea pods, beets, onions, and carrots are about ready to be picked. The radishes have been eaten and replaced by tomatoes. And we've got kale. Oh, do we have kale.

My favorite two ways to eat kale are either sliced very thinly and eaten raw on salad, or sauteed with garlic and olive oil. But a friend told me about kale chips, and with the kale regenerating what seems like nightly, I tried them the other day. I like them. Phil wasn't even in the mood to try one. So you'll have to trust me when I say they're good.


Kale Chips

Just pick (or buy), wash, and dry a big bunch of kale. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Fold each leaf in half and cut out the thick vein running up the back. Then rip the leaves into about 1-inch squares. Spray cooking spray on a couple big rimmed cookie sheets. (You can also cover the sheets with parchment paper.) Put the kale pieces on the sheets, drizzle lightly with a little olive oil (and spread it around if it's uneven -- try to get some on each kale piece), sprinkle on some kosher salt, and pop in the oven for about 10 minutes. When they're done, they're crispy and golden on the edges, but not burned.


You won't mistake them for potato chips, but they have that same salty, crunchy thing going. And they have a unique greeny flavor. I loved them. I made my chips a little large, requiring biting into them, which was a mistake. The variety of kale I planted (Red Russian) came out very thin in chips, and biting into them meant a sprinkling of green tiny kale pieces. But Phil's got band practice tonight, the kale exploded again while I was gone for the weekend, and I'm in the middle of a great book (Twelve by Twelve), so I'm seeing some chippy goodness in my near future.