Massaged Kale

Hello :) First things first. Earlier in the week I bought an iphone, which I'm very pleased with! Quite the upgrade from my previous phone, which boasted a flashlight as its best feature (which, don't get me wrong, was convenient at times). So now I have instagram, yay! My username is hfong14 if you'd like to follow me. I really like it as a visual diary of my life...& I'll be posting mostly foodie pics with some other photos from my everyday as well. And this means, I will probably be updating my blog more often, as photography can be more discrete on occasion ;)

Next up, the topic of kale. I'm sure like many of you have noticed, kale is everywhere. If there was a hipster factor of vegetables, kale would definitely be a 10. Everywhere I look at the markets, people have bunches of it in their bags, ready to take home. I tend to go through phases of food, and must say that kale hasn't been featuring on the menu all that often over the past few weeks. But then, I remembered a post I saw on how to make kale really yummy by massaging the leaves with olive oil, lemon & sea salt. The leaves apparently soften and break down, to create something that is softer, less bitter and very tasty. Learn more about massaged kale on the my new roots post here. 

So I bought a bunch recently and oh wow! It's so simple, but makes such a difference. The kale really does soften, and absorbs all the flavours you add. So just grab a bowl, add torn up leaves from a few stalks of kale, and add in some olive oil, lemon juice and sea salt. Scrunch and massage the leaves with your hands for about a minute and you're done! Here's some meals I've made in the past few days with my silky kale...

Yesterdays lunch. Spaghetti with homemade pesto, haloumi & kale. 

Dinner last night. Free range pork sausage (I really like these farmgate ones I buy from Eveleigh markets or Dr Earth in Newtown), with beetroot relish, carrot, red cabbage & kale. 

And dinner tonight used the rest of the kale, with other bits and pieces. There was a salad with the kale, beetroot, cabbage and basil, red quinoa, haloumi, and roasted carrots and potatoes.

I really enjoyed the salad, it didn't feel like I was eating a plate of raw vegetables. The trick I find is to chop or grate everything quite finely, add plenty of herbs and use lots of olive oil and sea salt.

Leftover salad for lunch tomorrow :)

You'll notice there's similar ingredients in all my meals, and not just the kale. After attending an inspiring talk/ panel discussion last week, called Whatever Happened To Waste Not Want Not? as part of Sydney Festival, I have definitely become more conscious of food waste and try to now buy less food so I can use it all up. I'll do a post about some useful tips I learnt soon :)

Have a great long weekend! Are you a kale massager?

Hannah x