Love, Hate and Kale

I have a love hate relationship with the Kale. I used to really hate it. And Jon, having worked at Wendy's many years ago, was shocked to learn that it is actually edible. However, the farm kale is quite fresh and tasty. The right preparation with some sort of braising seems to help a lot, too. In fact, one week recently when we didn't get a farm box, we bought kale at the grocery store. Wow.

But then two weeks ago, we got some lovely purple kale that seemed to have a lot of dirt that was difficult to wash off. Upon closer inspection, we determined that it was infested with some sort of vermin. Bugs and eggs. Ew. Ew. Ew. Perhaps this is supposed to add protein, but I could not bring myself to eat it.

This week, the Kale actually made me scream. It was green kale which seemed relatively clean on first inspection, but I decided that I should carefully wash and examine each leaf, just to be sure. As I was pondering a large leaf with a large hole in it, I discovered a huge green caterpillar thing. Ack! I should've taken a picture, but it washed down the drain. Shame.

Luckily, dinner ended successfully with Pasta with Sausage and Kale from Southern Living December 2003. I think this works best with a spicy sausage and whole wheat pasta.