Christmas Eve Dinner

Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

FoodNerd had to head off to the parental homestead yesterday afternoon which leaves me to my own devices until tomorrow when I head out there myself to extricate her. I was hoping to meet up with friends tonight and maybe grab some dinner out, but plans fell through and I had to fend for myself.

Under these circumstances, I’ll generally just eat something quick and easy: ramen and egg, pasta with Classico red sauce and some generic granulated cheese, mac ‘n franks. Basically, junk food, although I’ve convinced myself that the mac ‘n franks is really the only one that approaches the line in terms of sketchiness. I actually think the ramen business is pretty good as far as quick meals go since I get my protein from the eggs, and I’ve taken to adding kimchi and, very recently, tofu.

But I did the ramen thing last night, and I wanted a little more than just pasta, cheesy or otherwise.

Upon scanning the fridge, I discovered a bag of kale that Ma & Pa FoodNerd had brought from their garden. (Let’s hear it for the mild winter.) I’ve never cooked with kale before, but I decided to just run with it.

So, taking a cue from this post, I chopped up 3 cloves of garlic, lightly sauteed them in olive oil with some fresh ground pepper, added some chopped up kale (just 4 leaves, which initially filled the 3 quart pot I was using) and threw in a generous pinch of salt. Once it had wilted down a bit I added a bit of chicken broth (thank you, FoodNerd, for stocking up) and then supplemented it with some (defrosted) frozen shrimpies from Trader Joe’s. I let it simmer waiting for the pasta to finish cooking and then just dumped the whole mess over the drained pasta.

I expected it to be a little bitter and kind of bland. It turned out to be neither. Surprisingly tasty, actually. (I admit it, I’m not normally a kale guy.) I’m sure the MSG in the chicken broth is helping out a bit here, but I think the garlic and salt also go a long way. And all told, including defrosting the shrimp and boiling the water, the whole business took about 20 minutes to prepare. Schweet.