Week 4: Steamed Kale & Tempeh

I am filled with shame to admit that I actually forgot the magic of steaming vegetables until the fourth week of our community supported agriculture challenge. It simply cannot be that the gal who worked her way through college at a health food store, tirelessly promoting steaming as the most flavorful and healthy way to consume a veggie, had cooked 144 quarts of produce in three weeks without steaming a thing. In a word: disgrace. So for Tuesday night's dinner, I set out to re-enact my favorite college meal. Let me momentarily digress to say that I went to college in Santa Cruz, California. Home of shiny, happy people who live on the beach, hike in the mountains, and sustain themselves wholly on foods like wheat grass, spirulina and leafy greens. Suffice it to say, only in a place like this could a college student's favorite meal be jasmine rice, sautéed tempeh and steamed kale. But it was. And it's good!

The wonderful thing about steaming kale is that you don't have to separate the leaves from the stems. While sautéing it on its stems takes a painfully long time, steaming it cooks very quickly –– it reaches a soft-but-not-soggy consistency in about 10 minutes. Sprinkle a bit of soy sauce and nutritional yeast flakes on top and I'm certain that even the most die-hard meat and potatoes man will go weak in the knees. After all, I should know. Served with crispy tempeh and cilantro-topped jasmine rice, my two year old tyrant ate most of the kale right off my plate. Even our preschooler tried the kale twice, admitted it tasted good, but declined any more based on her principled belief that four year-olds do not eat obvious sources of nutrition. This meal was fun. But more than that, it was a refreshing and nostalgic return to my college days, where the leafy greens were plentiful and the stovetop steamer was always at the ready.