Kale and White Bean Stew and "Semi-Homemade with Inconvenience"

When I receive kale in my farm box, I usually make kale pie (from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian). For some reason, I don't feel the love for kale that I do for Swiss chard, which I've come to prefer even over spinach. But stick that kale in a lovely biscuity crust made with whole-milk yogurt and mayonnaise, and I can eat it every day.

Others who share my dislike of kale seem to find it edible roasted into chips, but when I received kale in my last box, I decided to try the stew smittenkitchen posted that week. Not surprisingly, smittenkitchen swapped out the kale from the original recipe for chard, so I just swapped it back.

Planning ahead, I cooked a quarter pound of cannellini beans earlier in the week. It makes sense to prepare at least a pound (which yields 5-6 cups of cooked beans) and freeze the rest for later use, but it's a tight squeeze in my freezer right now. (The goal is to get it cleaned out by Passover.)

Since the recipe called for vegetable broth, I made that first. Even knowing how easy and useful broth is to make, I've been putting it off. At last: a good reason to get simmering.

First, I browned an assortment of vegetables: an onion, a couple of carrots and celery stalks, a handful of mushrooms, some garlic cloves.

Then, I added five cups of water and one cup of white wine, along with a couple dozen parsley stems.

I measured out the broth for the stew and froze the rest in a muffin tin for future use.

The finished broth, with all the vegetables strained out.

The kale and white bean stew was ridiculously easy to make, yet rich in flavor. Smittenkitchen recommends ladling it over garlic toast and nestling a poached egg on top. Delicious! (Incidentally, I had it for lunch today with no garnish other than a toasted bagel half, and it was yummy.)

Making the stew with work lunches in mind, I decided to have a salmon burger for dinner. No, I didn't poach a salmon and grind it for burgers: I used the pack of salmon burgers I bought at Costco. Yes - I, too, buy convenience foods, though rarely and cautiously.

Here's my idea of "Semi-Homemade," which I present in defiance of other, less savory versions which annoy and disturb me:

1. I baked the challah rolls (a long time ago -  I keep a stash in the freezer).
2. I made the curdito (last week, to go with my sopes).
3. I pan-fried a pre-made salmon burger.

Ta da! Dinner in 8 minutes (the time it takes to fry a salmon burger)!