For the Love of Kale

I know what you are thinking, kale and goat cheese...again.  I never seem to tire of this combination and that means you never get to tire of it either.  This winter I feel like I’ve really become quite obsessed with kale but I’m a picky girl and it is only the cavolo nero type I really like rather than your bog standard curly variety.  That has its place of course but give me the rich dark leaves of cavolo nero and I’m happy to eat it in any number of incarnations.  Raw in salads, in smoothies, stirred into winter stews, with baked potatoes, in frittatas and now here in a toasted sandwich, the ultimate comfort food on a cold day.  Slightly wilted kale with tangy melted goat cheese slapped in the middle of toasted gluten free bread.  The great thing about a toasted sandwich is good bread, good cheese and whatever the heck you want to throw in there with it.  Kale is rich in vitamins and in particular a great source of calcium which is important for us coeliac types.  It also has anti-cancer properties.  If you can’t find kale, chard or spinach would work too.

 

Wash the kale and remove the centre stems.  Roughly chop the leaves and wilt in a skillet for a couple of minutes with a small amount of olive oil.  Once the kale is wilted remove from the skillet and set aside to cool a little.  Assemble your sandwich and cook either under a grill or in a lightly oiled skillet.  I’ve been using the grilling method lately.  I started off with the cheese open to the grill to get it melted a bit before I added the kale and sandwich top.  This also prevents the kale crisping up too much under the grill.