On Sunday afternoon, while I was resting after making a pot of Bolognese and a batch of black beans, Santa Maria slipped into the kitchen to experiment with kale chips. Here is her report:
I love, love LOVE the Fly Sky High Kale Salad, but alas, the kids don't. Sometimes, Nina will have a bit, but not much more. Pinta, won't even try it.
Because our big girl, Nina, can't eat nuts, I was dismayed when she looked with such interest at my New York Naturals Kale Chips—they're yummy, but quite expensive at $6-9 for a small box — and covered in pulverized cashews (and other stuff).
I looked around and made up my own recipe for kale chips, which she loves. Everyone gobbled them up! And I am happy to have made a delicious healthy snack. It really takes just ten minutes.
The Deep Fragility of All Existence As Represented in a Vegetable Snack (a.k.a. Santa Maria's Kale Chips)
- 1 head kale (washed, spun dry, with the stiff spines ripped out)
- 1 Tablespoon lime juice
- salt to taste
- 1/4 cup micro-grated parmesan cheese
- olive oil (about a teaspoon) or from a spritzer
Preheat oven to 225 degrees
Place the leaves on a piece of parchment paper, spritz with olive oil, then sprinkle with lime juice, salt (not too much!), and cheese (or, if you don't have a spritzer for the olive oil, toss everything in a bowl, and then lay the leaves out on the parchment paper).
Bake about 15 minutes.
Note: Watch them carefully while they are baking. They don't taste great if the edges blacken, and all ovens are different. Other recipes I found on-line said to bake them at 350 degrees. I did, and I burned my first version. Other recipes often simply suggest just the olive oil and salt — but I like them a bit more piquant.