RECIPE: Umami-packed kale makes hearty, comforting vegetarian toast
One of the most flavor-packed ways to cook hearty greens — kale, collards and the like — doesn’t involve adding smoked pork or turkey legs. It doesn’t require a long cooking time, and it can be accomplished with a minimum of ingredients. This vegetarian cooking method just requires one special ingredient: fermented soybean miso paste.
Miso’s intense, salty umami brings the savoriness to greens usually found by a long cook time with smoked meat; stir it into a knob of butter and its flavor rounds out to become sweeter and richer, the perfect accompaniment to hearty green kale. (If you can find young, tender collards or you’re OK with this dish taking a bit longer to cook, they’ll also work great here. Allow at least 15 minutes to cook the collards, instead of five for the kale.) For milder flavor, use 1 tablespoon of miso in the butter. Bump it up to 2 tablespoons if you want a bolder dish.
While these greens make for a fine side dish, here I’m serving them on toast, topped with a runny sunny side-up egg, for a light supper. This dish also doubles down on the miso-butter flavor by spreading it on thick slices of country bread before toasting it under the broiler; the miso will bubble and brown, bringing roasty caramel notes to the bread. Just be sure to keep a watchful eye on the bread so that it doesn’t get too charred.
One final note: If you’d like to scale the recipe up to serve four, double the greens, miso butter, bread and eggs, but keep the remaining ingredients the same.
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 1 to 2 tablespoons white or yellow miso
- 1 small onion, thinly sliced
- Salt
- 1 large bunch curly kale, leaves stripped and roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 thick slices country bread
- 2 large eggs
- Adjust an oven rack to the second-highest position and heat the broiler to high.
- In a small, microwave-safe bowl, soften 4 tablespoons of the butter in the microwave. Whisk in the miso.
- Heat another tablespoon of butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until softened and browned, about 5 minutes. Add the kale, half of the miso butter, and water. Cook, continuing to stir often, until the kale is soft, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt.
- Meanwhile, toast the first side of the bread under the broiler. Flip and brush with the remaining miso butter. Broil until golden brown, 30 seconds to 2 minutes, depending on your broiler. Top with the kale mixture.
- In the now-empty skillet, heat 1 tablespoon more butter over medium-high heat. Add the eggs, a pinch of salt, cover, cook until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny, 2 to 3 minutes. Place on top of the toast. Serve. Serves 2.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per serving: 485 calories (percent of calories from fat, 74), 12 grams protein, 20 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams fiber, 40 grams total fat (23 grams saturated), 277 milligrams cholesterol, 658 milligrams sodium.Read more stories like this by liking Atlanta Restaurant Scene on Facebook, following @ATLDiningNews on Twitter and @ajcdining on Instagram.
