Chopped kale salad with cranberries, breadcrumbs, and clementine juice

Busy, busy!  Several windy days in Minneapolis which found me curled up with several Brian Jacques books discovered while unpacking the last few boxes, though I did make that glorious Tuscan Tomato soup on an especially chilly day.

With Thanksgiving coming up, I tinkered with that kale salad recipe I made in July today - making it with dried cranberries, no garlic or parmesan, and freshly squeezed clementine juice, but keeping the toasted breadcrumbs and olive oil.  It's such a pretty, unmessy side, and a nice addition to the table.  Instead of mincing it by hand, I used the Cusinart for chopping very, very carefully - just a few pulses.  The kale needs to be completely dry, if it isn't you may end up with kale pesto:)


 Chopped kale salad with cranberries, breadcrumbs, and clementine juice


1 large bunch dinosaur kale, very dry
4 tablespoons freshly squeezed clementine or orange juice
  (you can also substitute lemon juice - just use a little less)
3 slices bread, toasted, cooled, then pulsed in a Cusinart to make bread crumbs (you can use gluten-free bread for this if needed)
2 cups dried cranberries
1-2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 cup olive oil

Tear the kale leaves off the stems.
Working in batches ( I did three batches), add the kale to a very dry food processor, keeping it loose and not packed down, and pulse three times until kale is finally chopped.  Remove to a bowl and continue in batches until all the kale is shopped.

Using the same food processor bowl to pulse the bread until it makes medium-fine crumbs.

Pour the olive oil into a large frying pan, heat, then add the breadcrumbs.  With heat on medium, stir the crumbs until toasted, then scrape into the bowl with the kale.  Toss gently, then add the cranberries , salt, and lemon or clementine juice, and toss again.
Taste and correct seasonings before serving.

Looking back at my posts, they all seem to be about kale, don't they?  I do love kale, and the kale around here is fabulous, whether big or small leafed, or dinosaur kale - it's all fresh and delicious.  I did make TWO carrot cakes for Anni's birthday, two days apart because the first went so quickly - (ahem, I might have had something to do with that:)

A Happy, wonderful Thanksgiving to you all!

my secret indulgence (sweet pastry cream)

A sunny, beautiful day again after a few very chilly mornings and finally, a freeze.  The household has been battling revolving strep for the last week or so;  today Anni, my daughter in law, has it for the second time, my daughter just succumbed, and Isadora is miserably sick.  The boys were sick last week with it - I hope lots of fresh air and keeping my bedroom door shut will keep me healthy and strep-free.

In between illnesses, they all went on a hike on Saturday, while I stayed home to cry over my computer and try to figure out how to fix the iPhoto problem - as in, finding a way to download my pictures from the camera into the second iPhoto page my daughter set up for me.  Total flop.  I went for a walk, came home, and whisked together my favorite sweet dessert - creme patissiere, straight.  No tart shell, no chocolate, no strawberries, just warm sweet pastry cream in my new little Weck pot, with my tiny spoon from Paris. 

Heavenly.

And this morning I figured out how to find the new pictures, wonder of wonders!  

creme patissiere (sweet pastry cream)


You will need a heavy-bottomed pot to make this, and a wooden spoon and a whisk.

1 cup milk
1 teaspoon good vanilla, or a scraped vanilla bean
1/4 cup sugar

3 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Heat the milk in the saucepan on medium heat, adding the vanilla and the sugar and stirring constantly.  When sugar has dissolved, remove the pan from heat and set aside.

In a bowl or mixer bowl, place egg yolks and sugar and whip until the mixture is thick and a pale, pale yellow, then add the flour and whip a little longer.

Add half the hot milk mixture to the egg yolk mixture, whisk or stir quickly, then pour the mixture back into the saucepan, whisking all the while, and set the pan back on the heat. The mixture will become thick very quickly - make sure you continue to whisk or stir.  When it's thickened, take the pan off the heat and stir in the butter and eat immediately:)

This recipe can be doubled with no problems.

friday serendipity

Another week, another glitch in my posting format - once again iPhoto is not working, which may be the internet provider -  or gremlins cavorting around Blogger.  Many apologies and hopes it gets worked out.

In the meantime:

Today re-reading the book I gave to Isadora in 2012 about Julia Child, full of charming drawings and stories that make me chuckle all over again:  It's called Bon Appetit:  the delicious life of Julia Child by Jessie Hartland, and it is grand and funny, and perfect for pretty much anyone on your Christmas list.  You can find it here.

Half the time I can't remember who I'm following anywhere, so it was a delightful surprise to start reading a blog called Dash and Bella, a vibrant, tumbling food/life/children blog with gorgeous pictures and a rollicking writing style.

And it being November, I'm fired up to start making all my favorite foods, from turkey to cranberries - you can find some drool-worthy recipes right here from Damn Delicious.

And cranberries from my home state of Massachusetts are showing up in the Minneapolis stores, leading to a flurry of baking these muffins.

I had a version of this butternut pasta dish a few weeks ago:  SO good, warming and filling and utterly delicious.




Have a wonderful weekend - and hope my glitches get fixed soonest!




Katrina