#oven dried

[paulpingminho]

[frostedpane]

[saltnsoy]

Oven Dried Kale

Chinese new year is a great excuse to have a party. This is a great snack for the occasion, I will be serving this at my CNY supper club tomorrow night.

I wanted to say happy new year to everyone and I hope the year of the monkey is a great year for you.

This is a healthy version of the so called chinese seaweed you find in chinese restaurants. Kale being a superfood, makes a great snack. For those who don’t like cabbage will surely be converted. For all these years you thought it was seaweed anyway.

I’ve tried many recipes and with trial and error. I believe I found a foolproof way to make it perfect every time.

Recipe

200g / 8oz cut kale (remove any thick stalky bits)

pinch of salt

pinch of pepper

¼ tsp onion salt

¼ tsp garlic powder

1 tsp caster sugar or any sugar syrup

1 tbsp rapeseed or any flavourless cooking oil

Pre-heat oven at 140C / 275F / Gas mark 1.

The secret to preserving the the green colour and keeping it crisp is to make sure the kale is dry before it gets baked in the oven. You can use kitchen paper or clean tea towels and then leave to air dry until virtually dry to touch. If the kale in baked wet it the leaves will turn brown and not stay dry when stored.

Place in a large baking tray. At this stage you can add all the seasonings and oil and massage evenly into the kale with bare hands.

Bake for 10 minutes and stir kale for even cooking, bake a further 10 minutes and stir again, leave another 5-10 minutes to fully dry out. You will notice the kale will shrink to a quarter of what you started with. So don’t over season as it.

Taste to check seasoning and add more salt and sugar if necessary.

It will keep for about 4 days in an airtight container.

[learninghowtocook]

Oven-Dried Tomatoes

Serves: 4

Ingredients

24 cherry tomatoes

8 to 10 plum tomatoes, cut in half

8 to 10 yellow, orange, red, or green tomatoes, cut into 1/4-inch-thick or thicker slices

1 tablespoon sugar

Herbs, such as basil, oregano, or rosemary, to taste

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line a pan with parchment; for thinnest chips, use a Silpat baking mat. Arrange tomatoes, cut sides up, on pan, spaced 1/2 to 1 inch apart. Sprinkle with sugar and herbs; season with salt and pepper.

Transfer pan to oven; dry until juices have stopped running, edges are shriveled, and pieces have shrunken slightly; timing will vary depending on the variety, ripeness, and desired degree of dryness, 1 1/2 to 6 hours. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Used In:

Guacamole BLT