Kale Chips, A Love Story

I really really like kale. The very first time I ever made it, August 27th, 2007 (I know this thanks to the joys of gmail archiving), I emailed my mom a single-liner, “i’m in the kitchen making sauteed kale from the greenmarket! i’m happy!” To which she responded that maybe, just maybe, I should get out more. But although sauteed kale and I have become good friends over the past 2+ years, I’ve never made kale chips, even though their glories have been long espoused.

So last week, I was in the green, leafy vegetable aisle at Whole Foods, looking for the yellow sale signs (trick: the sale price of organic produce is almost always cheaper than the conventional version). Kale was on sale, so I went to grab a bunch. And right there, between the kale and swiss chard, a genuine love connection was happening. Woman, 30ish, putting a bounty of kale in her cart. Man, 30ish, asking her about how to cook kale—he’d never made it, but it seemed like she really liked it. She launches into an enthusiastic explanation of kale, specifically kale chips. They banter, flirt, and I spend an inordinately long time in front of the kale, eavesdropping in. “A kale love story!” I thought. They finally walked off together, after he added some kale to his basket. If you see their story in the wedding section of the NYT in a year, well, you heard it here first.

After that, I had, had to try kale chips. Y’know, so I could make friends in the produce aisle of Whole Foods.

I made this recipe from epicurious, and they were… fine. Kind of messy, eat alone food. Not bad. Not great. I might try them again with a different kind of kale, because the premise is so so hopeful and healthy. File this under recipes that need a little more work to be love-story worthy.