It’s okay to play with your food. ~ Emeril Lagasse
How many of us indulged over holidays? We told ourselves it was only an extra drumstick with “only a few tiny” drizzles of dressing, one more slice of pie (a la mode, of course, why stop at pie), one more helping of noodles (to represent ‘healthy and long lives’). We also think that most of our clothes have shrunk.
Delusions aside, December/January is kale season. This rich, leafy, highly nutritious vegetable is fairly new to my family’s repertoire. It doesn’t grow naturally in South-East Asia and we didn’t grow up with it. Since discovering it after moving to America, we have developed a fondness for this mildly peppery and textured produce. With kale in abundance, we set out to develop our own recipe over several afternoons. We wanted it to meet a few criteria:
- Be healthy and appetizing
- Easy to prepare with no fancy ingredients or utensils
- Ready to eat in less than 30 minutes
- Able to store well
We chose store-bought Italian sausage for its interesting varieties of seasonings and versatility. The basic recipe only uses 6 ingredients with minimal preparation. Its multi-colors appealed to me, the visual eater; the savory flavors appealed to the other taste-testers. Sweet corn kernels added to the palette and were little bursts of sweetness. In the end, we beamed at our pot of healthy, comforting and colorful Italian Sausage and Kale Stew that evoked fun and playfulness.
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- 1 lb Italian sausage
- 6 cups packed kale leaves, roughly chopped
- 1 medium carrot, chopped
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- ½ can sweet corn kernals (optional)
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- 2 Tbsp chopped garlic
- 1 cup vegetable broth or water
- Break up Italian sausage in a pot with 2 tsp of oil.
- When sausage is half cooked and only partially pink, add garlic and onions and continue cooking till onions soften.
- Add carrots for about 30 seconds and then add tomatoes (and sweet corn kernals if using).
- Pour in water or broth and bring to a boil for 5-10 minutes till carrots soften and flavours meld together.
- Serve in its own as a stew ladled over a simple pasta or steaming rice.
- To serve as a soup, double the amount of water or broth. Season additionally with a pinch of salt and pepper if necessary.
Stew stores well and tastes better after being kept overnight. (See 'Tips and Tricks: Storing Soups and Stews without Refrigeration')
