Beans and Greens with Sausage

This summer has been the summer of greens and beans, separately and together. I've picked up a bunch of rainbow chard or Swiss chard just about every week at the Tuesday Downtown Farmers' Market, and I've most often been tossing it into a pot of lentils and cooking it down to something between a lentil mash and lentil soup. Season it with a generous squeeze of sriracha and finish it with a splash of vinegar and lemon juice, and you have a fantastic dish.

Another favorite has been kale.

More often than not, in this house, kale ends its days as salty, crunchy kale chips, though I also enjoy a really simple preparation braising it in olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes. I'd heard people for years rhapsodizing over Tuscan white beans, escarole and sausage, and I thought I could make something similar using kale and a Portuguese spicy sausage like chouriço or linguiça. It's a lot like the Portuguese soup Caldo Verde, though minus the potatoes and not as brothy. The beans break down and release some of the starchiness into the broth, thickening it into a spice-speckled sauce, just begging to be sopped up with a crusty Portuguese roll.

Beans and Greens with Sausage

Ingedients:

• olive oil
• 1 lb. chouriço
• 1 medium red onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup roasted red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed well
• 1 large bunch of kale, washed and leaves ripped from the central rib (about 4 cups)
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 t cumin
• 1/2 t smoked paprika
• 1/2 t granulated garlic
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar

Directions:

1. Slice the chouriço into 1/2 in. rounds, and then cut those into fourths. Saute them in olive oil over medium-high heat until browned, then add the chopped onion and cook until the onion is soft.
2. Toss in the roasted red bell pepper and cook for 2 minutes, then add the drained beans and cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes.
3. Add 1 teaspoon of the cumin and 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika and then toss the kale leaves on top and cover it tightly and let steam for 5 minutes. 
4. Stir to mix everything well and add 1 cup of the chicken broth and cover tightly and let cook until the kale is well wilted, and the beans are starting to break down and become creamy.
5. Uncover, add the wine vinegar, granulated garlic, the rest of the cumin and salt and pepper to taste and more broth. Stir well and let cook uncovered another 5 minutes, then mash down some of the beans with the back of your wooden spoon or spatula and serve.

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Spicy Kale Chips

I'm a sucker for anything salty and crunchy. I can't even buy potato chips on a regular basis because I am utterly powerless against that combination of crispy and salty. I also really enjoy greens, and while my usual way to treat kale and other greens is the standard braise or a light saute in some sort of fat - usually olive oil or occasionally bacon grease - or tossed into lentil soup, I am always looking for a new way to eat greens.

Why not oiled, salted and baked?

It almost defies logic that leafy greens can yield such a perfect, salty crunch with so little work, but they really do. They have that satisfying light crispiness that dances on the tongue and for God's sake... it's kale. What could be more virtuously packed with goodness than kale?

Spicy Kale Chips

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of kale
• olive oil
• chipotle salt*
• dusting of parm

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375.
2. Wash the kale and rip the leaves from the thick stems and tear them into large pieces.
3. Toss with olive oil and chipotle salt in a bowl.
4. Place on a large cookie sheet and bake for about 8 minutes, flip the kale over and bake for another 8 minutes or until the edges are nicely browned, but be careful not to let it burn.
5. Dust with a bit of parm and serve.

Notes:

• I bought this fancy-schmancy chipotle seasoned salt, but I imagine you could make your own by pulverizing a dried chipotle and adding it to the salt and then crushing that together in a mortar and pestle. Use only the dried chipotles sold in bags, not the canned chipotles in adobo. 
• You could also add red pepper flakes for more heat. 
• Really, you could use any seasoned salt you like.

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