Chips Off the Old Stalk!

In my pantry today:

• 1 bunch kale
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 tsp sea salt

It’s not just for the salad bar at Wendy’s. Now, I’ve never cooked with kale before but the nutritional information begs to have it added to my diet. The beauty of it begs photography. It seems like a win-win for a starving artist like myself. In fact, all I could do with it yesterday was the best starting point for cooking kale — chips.

Cut the stems out and arrange bite-size pieces of the leaves on parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, then put in a 350° oven for ten minutes. Don’t believe me? I didn’t believe it myself, but durn. In ten minutes you’ll have light, crispy stipules rife with vitamins. While I de-stemmed the entire bunch, I only cooked one sheet pan’s worth of leaves (it was a first attempt, after all). That ended up being an excellent appetizer for us last night, and there’s twice the amount left, prepped, in a tupperware bowl in the fridge. Nom!