The first tender cuts of Kale Raab are ready!
...however, this is anything but the first harvest from these plants. Every year, we seed and more than fifteen thousand plants to get us through four seasons of harvest. The big bunches of Kale we see in the main season give way to smaller leaves in the Fall and Winter for Braising Mix, and at about this time in late Winter/Early Spring, we get to treat ourselves to the flowers, aka Kale Rapini or Raab.
Iron rich and slightly sweet, Raab can be prepared however you like your on leafy Kale or Broccolini (or Sprouting Broccoli), eaten leaves, stems, flowers and all. When it is tender like it is this week, you can chop the Raab up nicely and sub it into your favorite kale salad recipes. I'm in the mood for a Broccoli Caesar, but I'll give it a go with Kale Raab. Some folks like to roast or even grill larger stems as they would asparagus. Given the long days that we start clocking in March, Mark and I we tend to fix these sprouting brassicas in super quick dinners-- quesadillas, pastas, and more often than not, tossed with the boiling pasta noodles for the last two minutes of prepping Mac & Cheese.
In other exciting news, our youngest hens moved out of their backyard brooding digs and spent the weekend getting used to life in the field, along with a couple of handsome roosters that Hazel and a friend have named Big Boi and Buttah. Mark insists that we are currently home to the most beautiful hen he has ever seen. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so I'll let you decide for yourself which one of our sweet birds she is.
Have a pleasant week,
Katie