All hail to kale: white fish with kale and chorizo

As the winter approaches, Annalena is hearing more and more stories from people who belonged to CSAs, and were confronted with... kale.  As one person put it, "bales and bales of kale."    And yes, if that were to happen, even Annalena and Chris, the kale king, would probably get sick of the stuff.

BUT, ragazzi, facts are facts. And those of us who eat seasonally must face the fact that kale is one of the few greens that winters.  In fact, some say that the colder it gets, the better the kale tastes.  That's a matter of personal opinion,  but it's here, it's kale, get used to it.

Not too catchy, huh?  Oh well.    Now, of course, these days we have to ask the question: WHAT KIND of kale are we talking about?   For most people who are sick of the stuff, they are speaking of huge bunches of the big leafy green stuff that have either been cooked for too little, or too long a time.  But there is purple kale, Russian kale (the stuff we're used to), black kale (cavolo nero), baby kale, and probably more than Annalena can think of.   They will all work in the recipe that follows.  As will other greens, like chard, beet greens, or even broccoli rabb.  And other sausages will work as well.  And so will other types of fish that are firm, and white.

The recipe is somewhat similar to a dish that is Iberian in origin.  Indeed, the original recipe called for hake, which is a fish very common in Iberian waters.  It makes its way to the East  Coast from time to time, but chances are, you won't find it locally.  Annalena didn't.  So use cod, or monkfish, or what she used:  pollak  (probably spelled wrong). They will all work here.

Chorizo is standard, but there are many kinds of chorizo.  And if you don't care for hot sausage, use a sweet one.  Or, if you must, a turkey sausage although it won't taste as good.  Annalena means it.  You need the fattiness here, for what is essentially a very lean dish.   But here we go.

You need a quarter cup of extra virgin olive oil, and a quarter pound of sausage.  When you get your sausage, cut it out of the casing, and then cut the solid into thin rounds (you can take the casing off AFTER, but ...well, you'll be glad you did it first.).  Get a medium yellow onion, peel it, and slice it into thin rounds.   Slice up two cloves of garlic.  You also need a BIG bunch of kale.  Or a couple of small bunches.  Bottom line is, you want enough kale so that, when you pull the leaves off of the branches, you will have a bout eight cups of it.  This is 8 cups, piled up.  No pressing the stuff down here.

Finally a cup of dry white wine, and a pound of the aforementioned white fish, cut into the number of serving pieces you need.

We're going to make the kale and sausage first, which will tell you that you can use this for other things as well.  Eat it as a side dish, use it as a pasta "sauce," etc.  All good here.

Put two tablespoons of olive oil in a big frying pan, and get it hot.  Add the sausage.  If you are using chorizo, the red color from the spices will leach into the oil, which is a good thing.  Cook the sausage until it's beginning to crisp a little.  (If you don't use chorizo, maybe a bit of paprika?).  In all, 3 minutes or so will do.  Then add the onions, and  the garlic, stir it all together, and stir occasionally.  Watch the onion for when it turns translucent.  The 8 minutes the recipe called for, was way too long.    Now, add the kale.  You may have to do this in stages, cooking until it wilts.  All in all, this will take about thre eminutes.  Add a half cup of wine, and a quarter cup of plain water (I left that out up there.  S orry).  Cover the pan, and lower the heat.  Let this cook for 20 minutes or so. 

You can do the fish while this is happening, but the fish cooks quickly, so for your own mental health, Annalena suggests you wait.    After the 20 minutes, the kale is going to look very black, and unappetizing.  Add some salt and pepper and taste it, and you'll disagree. 

Now take the rest of the oil, and put it in a separate pan.  Pat the fish dry, sprinkle some salt and pepper, and sear it.  Probably 4 minutes on one side, and three on the other.  Take this off the heat now, and put the fish on a plate.  OFF THE HEAT, add the remaining wine.  On the heat, bring it to a simmer, and add the fish back, and cook for another three minutes or so. The wine will reduce to a few tablespoons, and the fish will become incredibly tender.

Now, you just assemble things.  A mound of kale, a piece of fish.  The flavors do bounce off of each other in the dish, so please don't leave out the sausage.  It will taste a lot richer than it is.

Four tablespoons of oil (that's a quarter cup), and the sausage, and four servings. An ounce of sausage each.  A tablespoon of oil  Vegetables, fish.  Not too bad? 

Keep it in mind as you recover from Thanksgiving, or just make it for yourself and feel good as you enjoy something you might have avoided.