The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kale makes hearty toast
Umami-packed greens make comforting light supper.
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.
Umami or savory is one of the five basic tastes along with sour, salty, bitter and sweet. Scientifically speaking, it is a naturally occurring MSG that makes flavors craveable. It should be no news that peanuts are naturally high in umami. These simple flatbreads hit all the flavor notes.
1/4 cup peanuts, chopped (try sweet heat or spiced, too) 2 tablespoons Everything
Seasoning
1 cup self-rising flour, plus
more for rolling
1/2 cup buttermilk 4 teaspoons olive oil or olive oil spray
Adjust the rack in the center of the oven. Place a rimmed baking sheet in the oven. Heat the oven to 500 degrees.
Combine the nuts and seasoning; set aside.
Combine the flour and buttermilk in a bowl. Stir to combine. Transfer to a clean work surface lightly dusted with flour. Divide dough into 4 equal parts. Using a rolling pin, and adding flour as needed, roll out 1 piece of the dough until very thin. (Aim for the thickness of a quarter.) Repeat with 1 more piece of dough, reserving the remaining 2 pieces for a second batch.
Remove the hot baking sheet from the oven. Working quickly, add the discs of dough to the baking sheet, drizzle or mist oil over each, and evenly sprinkle with 1 heaping tablespoon of reserved seeds and nuts. Return baking sheet to the oven and cook until brown and crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool.
Repeat rolling and baking process with remaining dough.
Store in an airtight container for up for 2 days.
Makes 4.