Sauté of Kale with Radishes and Their Tops

The sharpness and funk that radishes sometimes have is mitigated by gentle cooking. Here, the radishes act as a foil to the earthiness of the kale and the radish tops, and the colors are nice on the plate as well.

INGREDIENTS:

1 bunch kale, stemmed, cleaned, and torn into bite-sized bits

1 bunch radishes, leaves removed and well cleaned, radishes trimmed of stems and rootlets, sliced into 3/16ths-inch (roughly thereabouts) coins

½ smallish white or yellow onion, cut into ¼-inch dice

Neutral flavored oil as needed

3 ounces dry white wine

2 tablespoons butter, preferably salted

1 sprig fresh marjoram

Large flake salt (such as Maldon) and pepper to taste

½ lemon, seeded, for juice – preferably Meyer

METHOD:

Heat a 10-inch sauté pan over medium heat. When hot, film pan with oil and heat through. Add the onion, and cook gently until the onion is “clear”, trying to avoid coloring the onion at all.

When the onion is tender, add half the kale and turn in the oil. Sauté until it collapses a bit, then add the rest of the kale and the radish greens. Drizzle with a little oil if needed, and turn to coat and mix with onions. Add the wine, turn the kale to spread the wine through it, and then place a tight fitting lid on the pan. Cook for 3-4 minutes, then check to see if the kale has wilted. It should be mostly softened at the point, but if not, return the lid to the pan and cook a few minutes more. As soon as all of the kale looks cooked just-through, remove the lid and stirring gently, cook off the liquid in the pan.

Push all the kale to the rim of the pan. Add the butter to the pan, and as soon as it starts melting, add the sprig of marjoram, running it through the butter to flavor the butter. Add the radish coins and turn in the butter to coat them. Spread out and gently cook so they soften and pick up a little color from the butter. Turn them occasionally so both sides color up. Cook just until the radish coins are crisp-tender and lightly colored. Discard the marjoram sprig and toss to evenly combine the ingredients. Drizzle lightly with the lemon juice-it should be a background flavor, a nuance- place on plates or a serving dish. Scatter lightly with salt and pepper and serve.

Chef’s Notes: As I was writing this I thought of the “tea sandwich” where thin slices of radish are shingled on a piece of well-buttered bread, and the butter is usually salted and flakes of salt are scattered over the sandwich. That thought lead to this idea-remove the crust from a 4 to 5-inch long piece of bread such as ciabatta or francese, and then tear the bread into ½ to 1-inch by ½-inch long chunks. At this point you can lightly oil (I recommend a sprayer of some form) the bread and season it with marjoram, then bake until crisp and fragrant. You could also simply fry it in a sauté pan with oil, a little butter for flavor and marjoram. Either way, cook until crisp and use to garnish the kale radish dish at service.

Serves: 4

Source: Chef Andrew E Cohen