Right, I knew that ‘sexy kale’ photo from my previous post would cause some commotion, some of you have been chasing me for the recipe. I wonder, was it the ‘sexy’ part? This is where the footnotes come in: a) I am not a chef, I just love cooking insanely and b) this is not my recipe (it’s yanni-optimised), but for the name of it, I can’t remember who or where I found it. Note to self: start filing everything I find online. So, here it goes…
- 25 gr grass-fed butter or if you want less of the evil saturated fat, you can use ghee butter
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 white onion finely chopped
- 1-2 Chilies, finely chopped, only if a bit of a kick is your thing
- 1tsp of turmeric
- 2tsp of ground coriander
- Kale greens, roughly chopped and stalks off, you don’t want to bite into uncooked greens and chew for ever ; quantity is really up to you depending on how healthy or dirty you’re feeling on the day. Needless to say, you can use any other deep green that rocks your boat.
- Finally, if you want some extra
- Another 20gr of butter/ghee for when you add the pasta
- Pecorino cheese (for this type of sauce, I prefer it to Parmesan, its tangier flavour mixes better with greens)
Now, here’s the thing, if you have the time and patience, you first melt the butter/ghee, then add onions for a minute or two then garlic, chilies, turmeric and coriander for another minute and then through in the greens and shrimps, mix well and keep on medium heat until they wilt, aka until they look ‘sad’. If cooking is not your thing, seriously throw all ingredients together (er, almost all, not the last two) in the pan on a medium-to-high heat, mix and stir for about 5-10 mins until veggies are looking sad. Then throw in the cooked pasta (again, any would do) with a bit of the starchy boiled water (about a small cup), the remaining butter and pecorino, steer on medium heat for about 3 mins until the sauce thickens – and yes, that’s it!
Mega-taste: turmeric and coriander are the heroes, this sauce would not be the same without them. Turmeric’s overwhelmingly earthy and bitter, almost musky, with a bit of peppery spice fits perfectly with ground coriander’s warm, spicy and nutty aromas, with a hint of citrus flavour. Together they make kale (and the shrimp) heavenly. Add the fat from the butter and the silkiness from the starchy water and you see where the sexiness comes from.
Micro-nutrition: the queens that deserve their own runway show here are, of course, kale and ghee…
- Ghee is full of omega-3 fatty acids, which are good fats and are essential for improving the brain and heart health. It also provides a lot of energy to the body. But the main point in this recipe is that it has a higher smoke point, which simply means it is healthier for higher temperatures
- Kale, well, we all know it is a nutrient-dense, low-calorie food. The list of goodness is endless, I would need a separate post for it. For me, three things stand out: a) it is loaded with powerful antioxidants like Quercetin and Kaempferol, super important for overall cell health b) it is one of the world’s best sources of vitamin K, critical for “activating” certain proteins and giving them the ability to bind calcium and c) it is a powerful source of Vitamins C, better than many citrus fruits – eat that orange!
Happy eating!
Macro-Wellness 