Kale Chips

“Evocative of the great outdoors and a healthy lifestyle, Kale is another foliage-based green that conjures up our desire to connect to nature, similar to the more vivacious Greenery. And, just as we see in nature, this lush and fertile natural green shade provides the perfect complementary background to the more vibrant tones in the palette.” – Pantone 18-0107

I know what you’re thinking, you see the title that says “Kale Chips” and you think that’s been done before and how it’s been a trend for some time now, but Pantone has included Kale as part of their Spring collection and we have never made kale chips before, so we’re gonna try them.

I was never on the kale bandwagon as so many people had been for the past while. I always avoided trying kale chips and kale in general and Nicole has never been a fan because of the sometimes bitter taste. So this week we have tried out a quite simple kale chip recipe so that I can see for myself what the hype about kale is and Nicole can see if maybe adding cheese make them taste better to her! We’ve added some notes to the recipe of things we noticed as we made them so look out for those.

Garlic and Parmesan Kale Chips

You will need:

• 2 bunches of kale (we used organic, but feel free to use whatever)
• 4 tsp olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• Table salt about ½ tsp. sprinkled over top
• 1/4 cup grated/finely ground parmesan cheese (pay attention to the notes about cheese)

How to:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Wash the kale and dry well either in a salad spinner or dry the leaves with towels. Remove the ribs and chop/rip the kale. We cut the kale into small bits but we think it might be better if you leave them a bit bigger more like chips.

Put the cut leaves into a large bowl and toss with the olive oil, garlic, and the salt. We added the cheese to this mix, but we found that it burnt and was a messy, so a good idea would be to either sprinkle the cheese on top after baking or to grind up the cheese in the processor (getting powdered cheese would work too) and sprinkling it in the bowl or on top after baking. 

 

 

Spread the leaves on a large rimmed baking sheet. We used two medium sized baking sheet. It’s going to shrink so you can pile it on within reason.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, stirring a couple of times until they are brown and crispy. Nicole who was in charge noticed burning near the end, so it’s a good idea to keep an eye on them because they might not need the full time in the oven. The cheese also added to the burning so adding it at the end before serving is probably best.