Kale gets a thumbs up!

I couldn't decide what I want to serve along side dinner tonight, so I asked Jeff if he had something in mind that we have not had for awhile - he thought about it for a moment and suggested making some breadsticks if I had time. Good timing as I had just seen a recipe that I had wanted to try... so after looking through one of the more recent recipe stacks, I found the recipe for Sesame-Sea Salt Breadsticks.

This recipe is very basic with few ingredients - I changed up the flour ratio a bit to include some white whole wheat flour though. Once I toasted up a few tablespoons of sesame seeds and let them cool, the soft dough came together quite quickly and was pretty easy to work with. I used instant yeast, but if you only have active-dry and feel the need to proof it, just add it to the warm water with about 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and let it sit for a few minutes. One bonus to this recipe is the dough will only need to rise once, so total time for the recipe is not too long.

While coarse sea salt is added to the dry ingredients, a generous amount is also scattered on top of the dough once rolled out for an added salty crunch. After I cut the pieces of dough, I set them first on the cornmeal laced baking sheets and then twisted them so the texture the cornmeal added would be more spread out. Flecked with dark toasted seeds, these long and thin breadsticks are baked just until the bottoms are lightly golden - this allows them to be a little crisp on the outside while the interiors stay soft and chewy.

Tonight's dinner, Orecchiette with Kale and Smoked Mozzarella, actually called for broccoli rabe - we tried it once before and found it to be too bitter for our tastes. Admittedly though, we didn't know to blanch it first to help remove some bitterness, but it has not been long enough for us to dare try it again. So instead, I thought it would be a good chance to try out yet another green that we have not had - kale! I removed the tough stems of the kale, chopped the dark green leaves and dunked it in some cold water a few times to remove any dirty bits left on. We then cooked it for just about 6 minutes or so with crushed red pepper, a bunch of minced garlic and vegetable broth. Hot orecchiette pasta and shredded smoked mozzarella are then tossed into the pan and before I knew it dinner was ready! The kale had a clean mild taste, similar to spinach I guess, except it had a much heartier mouth feel. The amount of mozzarella may seem small, but the depth it pushed into the dish was very present and needed as it might otherwise be a bit bland. Now I can't wait to find another recipe to try using kale - one more green we can check off... with several more I'm anxious to try!

Recipes
Sesame-Sea Salt Breadsticks
Orecchiette with Kale and Smoked Mozzarella