Orecchiette with kale, peppers, and breadcrumbs

Today I had thought I might make the "gnocchi" (actually malfatti or gnudi) featured in last week's New York Times. But then I discovered (a) they seemed far too laden with various fats to face after an afternoon of baking the most decadent chocolate cookies of all time, and (b) I would have needed to drain my ricotta overnight the night before. So I needed to find something else to do with the two big bunches of kale, because I certainly didn't want them mouldering away during our Thanksgiving absence. The highly improvised solution I came up with turned out to be quite tasty, so I thought I'd better write it up in order that I might have some hope of replicating it someday.

First, I trimmed the central stem/rib out of each leaf of kale (very tedious, but important) and cut it into ribbons. This I simmered in salted water for about 12 minutes, until it was very tender, and drained it thoroughly, pressing out extra liquid with the back of a spoon. In the meantime, I sautéed about half a cup of breadcrumbs in a couple of teaspoons of olive oil until they turned a deep golden brown. I also finely sliced four whole extra-fancy Spanish roasted red peppers, about the volume of two whole ordinary roasted peppers.

In the same water I'd boiled the kale in, I cooked up about half a pound of orecchiette. When this was done, I tossed all the aforementioned ingredients together, along with a tablespoon of olive oil, a splash of vinegar, and a hearty shake of ground chipotle. We served it with grated romano cheese at the table, no added salt or pepper.

The breadcrumbs have a very nice effect, binding everything together and adding a toasty flavor and crunch, and the greens and peppers set each other off nicely. The orecchiette are substantial enough to stand up to the other ingredients and conveniently shaped to catch the greens, and chipotle's smokiness complements them handily. For a wild improvisation, this concoction came out very well indeed. I'll make it again, for certain.

Posted by redfox at November 24, 2002 09:37 PM (dinner reports)

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