The Thanksgiving holiday is coming to a close and whether it's a meteorological phenomenon or purely a psychological one, the air already feels chillier. After several days of cold rainy weather, here in DC, the long Thanksgiving weekend burst forth in sunshine and miraculously warm days. After stuffing myself silly on turkey and all the trimmings on Thursday and then repeating with turkey leftovers on Friday and Saturday, I decided on Sunday that I should actually cook something. But first, I needed to get outdoors and enjoy the last of the beautiful weather.
Thus, I put on some grungy clothes, hopped on my bicycle and rode down to the Farm at Walker Jones, which my friend Casey had told me about a few months ago. the Farm is a school garden at Walker Jones, a K-8 public school here in DC, and is managed by DC Greens.
At the encouragement of Casey I've started volunteering here and I've become really enthusiastic about the garden and it's success at educating students about farming and nutrition. It is also becoming a source for organic, fresh, inexpensive vegetables for the local community. They have a beehive, herb garden, a pumpkin patch as well as all kinds of delicious (and gorgeous) fall greens growing. This week I didn't take anything home, but last week I picked up some beautiful baby lettuce and some red Russian kale.
I love kale. I credit kale with converting me into a leafy-greens lover. Previously the only type of greens I had eaten were spinach and collard greens, and I must confess that while I enjoy those veggies now, I was not a fan as a nine-year-old child. The image of spinach and collards as being mushy, slimy, overcooked olive green masses on my plate stuck with me until about three years ago, when as a broke college student, I discovered kale in all its 89 cents-a-pound glory. I flipped through several recipe books until I found an entry for kale sauteed in balsamic vinegar and from that moment I was converted. I have cooked kale in soups, curries, and lasagnas. I have toasted the leaves into chips and wrapped meatball stuffing into them. Kale as well as red cabbage, Swiss chard, bok choi, beet and mustard greens have now become mainstays of my veggie drawer.
So today when I was surveying what to make for dinner, I came up with a butternut squash, soba noodles, and the red Russian kale from the Farm. This was all I needed for inspiration to strike and so for dinner I roasted the butternut squash, sauteed the kale in a garlicky ginger soy sauce, threw in some crispy pan fried tofu, and tossed all of this with some al-dente soba noodles.
Overall, it was quite good. I loved the contrasts between the garlic and slight chewiness of the kale against the sweet butternut squash, and soba noodles are a unique flavor, nutty and earthy. I think I put too much soy sauce in my dish, and thus I've adjusted the recipe slightly so the soy sauce (mainly the saltiness) is not over-powering. Also, I left out the tofu in this recipe but you can always add it if the dish is a main course. I did put some honey, sherry and dried ginger (was out of fresh ginger) with the soy sauce and that livened up the dish as well and I would have loved to finish the dish off with some toasted sesame seeds to add a bit of crunch and flavor. Will have to tweak next time...
Soba Noodles with Roasted Butternut Squash and Garlicky Kale in a Sweet Ginger Soy Sauce.
Makes two large servings (cause I like leftovers)
Approx. 3 oz soba noodles
1/2 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
2 tbsp olive oil
salt
1 tbsp vegetable or other neutral oil
1/4 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 jalapeno, minced (if you want it less spicy, remove the seeds and ribs)
1 bunch fresh kale, rinsed, stem removed and torn into bite-sized pieces
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sherry
2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp dried ginger or 1 knob fresh ginger peeled and minced
3 tbsp water
Preheat your oven to 375F. Carefully peel a butternut squash, halve it and scoop out the seeds and membrane. Note: butternut squash, like most hard squash are difficult to peel. The best method I have found to complete this task is to cut the squash in half where the neck connects to the bulb. Stand one half of the squash up on a cutting board, cut-side-down and using a good-quality vegetable peeler peel from the top toward the bottom, moving around the squash as you go. This takes patience and some elbow-grease, but it works pretty well. Even with a recipe where I only need part of a squash, I tend to prepare an entire one, since it's such a pain to peel and chop. I then toss the extra roasted squash in other dishes or on a salad.
Boil the soba noodles according to package directions, and reserve.
Chop the onion, garlic, jalapeno and wash and prep the kale. Heat up the vegetable oil in a medium skillet and once the oil shimmers add the onion, garlic and jalapeno. Note: if you are using fresh ginger, add it here. Cook over medium high heat until the onion is soft, but stir often to prevent the garlic from getting singed. Lower the heat to medium, add the kale to the pan and gently toss with the veggies and and remaining oil. The kale will fill the skillet, but as it cooks, will lose most of its volume.
In a separate bowl, combine the soy sauce, sherry, honey, dried ginger (omit if using fresh ginger) and water. Pour over the veggies and stir. If the pan is too dry add a bit more water. Cover the pan and wilt the kale. Once the kale has started to soften, and has lost about half of its volume, remove the lid and stir the veggies. Continue to cook the kale, stirring frequently, for another 5-7 minutes or until it is completely wilted and tender.
Mix the butternut squash with the cooked kale and heat through, if needed. Add in the soba noodles, tossing to evenly coat with the pan juices. Plate up with some salmon or tofu and enjoy!
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