Dinosaurs At The Farmers Market? Dinosaur Kale, That Is.

As usual, Jose (a.k.a. Junior) and Mai of Yang Farms were one of the first vendors on the street at 6:00 a.m. on Sunday morning. Last Sunday that meant setting up in the miserable cold and drizzle that looks to be in our future for this coming Sunday as well. As I do almost every Sunday, I took advantage of their early arrival and grabbed a few of their unusual Japanese sweet potatoes before everyone else beat me to them. This variety of sweet potato, which is the color of butter inside, not garishly orange like the ones you usually cook for Thanksgiving dinner, is hands down my favorite. It has a smooth texture, not stringy like the orange ones, and has a straightforward sweetness; unlike the earthy sweetness I find many orange varieties to have. Not to mention they are a drier sweet potato, more like a true potato in that regard, and don’t get mushy when you cook them.

In an effort to continue my campaign to bring kale into my diet and love it while I do, I went over to visit the beautiful Lupe at Menos Farms, one of the Market’s organic farmers, to pick up some organic kale and leeks. I’m not sure what variety of kale she has, but hers is very tender and not bitter at all. I recently learned that Tuscan kale (a.k.a. Lacinato kale and Dinosaur kale) is supposed to be the most tender variety, so I’m thinking hers might be Tuscan, (looked like the picture on the internet before I heartlessly dropped it into my pot of boiling broth). I’ll check this out on Sunday and get back to you.

Now, what to do with all of this? Again, I’m trying to love kale, and I think I have found the secret – put it with other things that I adore, like Japanese sweet potatoes and 8 Blended Whole Grain Rice. I found a recipe on foodandwine.com for “Island Sweet Potato Soup” that includes sweet potatoes, kale and rice, so I decided to use it as a vehicle for my kale campaign.

I must confess that I rarely follow a recipe as written, either because I am a control freak, think I know better than anyone else what tastes good, or I just plain can’t read a recipe. (We all have our issues!) So as usual, I used the recipe from foodandwine.com as a mere suggestion and here’s what I came up with. Melody’s New and Improved Island Sweet Potato and Kale Soup. (Nah, I won’t really call it this, but sounds good doesn’t it?) The recipe follows later in the blog.

As for the ingredients in the recipe that you can’t get at the Studio City Farmers Market, I suggest that you hurry on over to the 99 Ranch Market on Sepulveda and Victory Boulevards for these. You can get coconut milk there cheaper than any other place I know, as well as the 8 Blended Whole Grain Rice and cooking oil. It is worth the trip, and is an adventure if you have never shopped there before. It’s like stepping into a foreign country, without the expensive and exhausting plane ride.

Oh, I almost forgot, one of my other favorite things, the vegetable broth from Dave’s Korean BBQ. I know, I don’t quite get the barbecue part, as everything he makes is vegan, but hey, his stuff is off the charts good so I don’t ask questions! If you can, please use Dave’s broth in this recipe because it really makes the soup something special. I’d be lying if I told you I thought it would be just as good with vegetable broth from a box from the grocery store.

If you don’t believe me, go to Dave’s Korean BBQ, on the north side of the Market and ask Rob, who works the booth every Sunday (when he isn’t sailing around the world) for a sample of the broth. You’ll be hooked once you taste it. You’ll want a whole cup, and lucky for you Rob sells it by the cup so that you can sip it as you walk around the cold damp Market. Honestly, it’s even better than having a good cup of coffee on a cold morning.

Okay, finally, here is the recipe as prepared by me. You can find the original, unadulterated, virgin recipe at http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/island-kale-and-sweet-potato-soup.

Dinosaur Kale and Japanese Sweet Potato Soup

   2 Tbsp olive oil

   1 brown onion, chopped

   2 cloves garlic, minced

   1 Thai bird chili sliced thin

   2 bunches kale, (just under a pound) tough stems removed, leaves    

       washed well and chopped (about 4 cups)

   3 Japanese sweet potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled and cut

        into 3/4-inch cubes

   8 cups vegetable broth from Dave’s Korean BBQ or homemade stock

        (or chicken or veggie stock from a box-no guilt here)

   salt and pepper to taste

   1 can unsweetened coconut milk

   1 cup uncooked 8 Blended Whole Grain Rice, or a mixture of brown

        rice, barley and wheat berries  (or you can use 3 cups of leftover

        cooked rice from last night’s Chinese food)

   2 Tbsp Fish Sauce (optional)

Remove the tough center veins from the kale leaves by folding them in half and cutting between the vein and leaf. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into cubes. Chop the onions, garlic and Thai chili. (I just recently discovered that you can freeze chilies and it makes them easier to slice thinly.)

In a 4 ½ quart, or larger, saucepan (don’t use anything smaller because the kale takes up a lot of room before it cooks down and you’ll have soup everywhere when you stir the pot) heat the oil over medium low heat until it starts to simmer. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and the Thai chili and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add the kale, sweet potatoes, broth, salt and pepper to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender, but not falling apart, about 25 minutes.

While the soup is cooking, prepare the rice. Or, if you have leftover rice, this is a good opportunity to use it up. If you are using the 8 Blended Whole Grain Rice, use 2 ½ cups of water for the 1 cup of rice. Put the water in a pot and bring to a boil. Add the rice, bring back to a boil, cover and reduce the heat so that the water is just simmering. Cook for 30 minutes or until tender. Refrain from removing the top while cooking the rice. If you are using something other than the 8 Blended Whole Grain Rice, follow the directions on the rice, barley or wheat package.

Once the sweet potatoes are cooked through, turn the heat off and add the coconut milk and cooked rice. If the rice is cold, you may need to turn the heat back on for a short time to heat everything back up again. Serve with sliced cucumbers if you like. The cucumbers are a refreshing balance to the slight spiciness of the soup.

Bring your umbrellas and galoshes and we’ll see you on Sunday.