Finally Cooking the Greens

I love cooked greens at restaurants, but I've never made them at home before. I keep buying bunches of kale and being intimidated and then they turn yellow. oops. But tonight I plunged right in, riffing off the recipe in Cook's Illustrated.

I stemmed the kale as suggested, running the knife along the stem to get chunks of green off. The pile of greenery looked overly large by the time I was halfway through the bunch. I tossed the (cleaned!) kale in boiling water and left it there until it got to be dark and then a bit more, before tossing it back in the colander and rinsing with cold water.

I cut a slice of bacon to bits and waited for the fat to render. Meanwhile, I minced half a shallot and a clove of garlic. When the bacon was done, I picked out the bits and added the shallot and garlic. While they were frying, I dried and rough chopped the kale. Then I tossed it in the fat and shallot and garlic until fully coated and poured it into my bowl, mixing in the bacon bits.

My only complaint was that it was a little too oily. I think maybe if I'd added tossed in some cider vinegar as I was supposed to once it was off the heat, it might have cut the unctuousness. Either that, or only used half a slice of bacon. Good thing I have another half bunch of kale, hm?