Cider-braised kale with sweet cherries celebrates the flavors of autumn in a way few other dishes do. Sure, we can all appreciate a good pumpkin pie, a good butternut squash soup, but it’s in the autumn when the hardy greens like kale and Swiss chard are at their peak. In this dish, the rich and faintly salty flavor of lacinato kale marries with dried sweet cherries (both Bing and Ranier varieties do nicely), red onion and apple cider.
I first prepared cider-braised kale for a communal harvest feast of over two hundred revelers, where it accompanied roast pig, stewed sour cherries with honeyed yogurt, roast acorn squash and other autumnal dishes. Since then, it has become a favorite in our home – a quick an easy go-to side dish that has accompanied savory pumpkin and sage custards, easy roast chickens and wine-braised steaks.
There are innumerable varieties of kale: Scotch kale is rough, thick and crinkly while Russian kale is soft, flimsy and elongated. My favorite variety, though, is lacinato – an heirloom variety alternately known as dinosaur kale or black kale. It’s a thick leaf, and dark blue-green with a pebbled and almost reptilian texture. It’s flavor, however, is undeniably rich – sweet and faintly briney.
Kale, like all leafy greens, is rich in vitamins and some minerals – a very good source of carotene and of vitamin K1 as well as potassium, calcium and manganese. It’s also rich in antioxidants, but take care to eat kale with a good serving of nourishing, wholesome fat for it’s fat that helps our bodies to best absorb nutrients in vegetables (read more about why you should butter your vegetables).
On another note, this weekend we’re at Wise Traditions – the annual conference hosted by the Weston A Price Foundation, so if you’re in King of Prussia, PA this weekend, stop by an say “Hi.” Don’t forget that we’re also hosting a new cooking series at Nourished Kitchen: Happy & Healthy Holidays, so check it out.
Cider-braised Kale with Sweet Cherries
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 small red onion, peeled and sliced thin
- 2 large bunches kale (preferably lacinato), stems removed and chopped coarse
- 1 cup dried sweet cherries
- 1/2 cup apple cider
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Equipment
- cast-iron or stainless steel skillet
Method
- Melt coconut oil in a cast iron or stainless steel skillet over a medium-high flame.
- Toss sliced onions into the hot fat and fry until fragrant, then add two large bunches of chopped kale, into the skillet and fry one to two minutes until barely wilted.
- Stir one cup dried sweet cherries and one-half cup apple cider into the kale and simmer until the liquid is evaporated, about five minutes.
- Season kale with one teaspoon apple cider vinegar and serve.
YIELD: about 4 servings.
TIME: under 10 minutes.
This kale recipe sound wonderful! I have friends coming over this weekend and this is something I now plan on making! YUM! Can’t wit to taste it. Do you have any other kale recipes? I planted kale in my garden this summer & have quite a bit if it now to harvest.
I am definitely going to try this one! I just saw the “dinosaur” kale for the first time at the Farmer’s market.
Thanks!
I am a gree food lover and this actually looks awesome
I love the cider-braising idea in this recipe. And really, can you ever go wrong with cherries and greens? I look forward to trying this recipe.
Lovely! And so easy. Always looking for new ways to make kale!
Lacinato is also my preferred variety of kale; I think it might actually be my preferred dark green as well. Since I’m always on the lookout for good recipes, I definitely have to try this out. I usually just saute it in bacon fat, garlic, and (sometimes) a bit of red pepper flakes; tonight I went with toasted walnuts, garlic, and some blue cheese.
What an usual, but appealing combination!
I just bought some purple kale at the farmers market this weekend. Would this work for this recipe as well?
The main thing I don’t like about Lacinato is that the cabbage worms hide in all the little crooks and crannies. Plus, there’s a low yield per leaf, at least the way it grows in my garden – very narrow leaves. It still looks cool. I have a couple more bunches sitting in the fridge right now, so I’m thinking about trying this recipe. Thanks!
This sounds fabulous. Love the pairing of kale with cherries, and I have a bag of dried cherries in my pantry that I recently picked up at Trader Joe’s. This is on the menu for tonight! thanks!!
LL
This is a lovely dish! I just pulled two bunches of lacinato kale out of my garden and did my best to recreate this recipe. I used pastured lard instead of coconut oil (because my husband was in the kitchen with me and swears he doesn’t like CO, however if I make something without him around he doesn’t know the difference) and cranberries instead of cherries but it was delightful. I paired the kale with a pumpkin and havarti souffle, and balsamic brasied pork loin chops for a fabulous fall dinner. Everyone around our table this evening helped themselves to more, even my 22 month old. I love life!
I made this today along with your turkey/sweet potato hash, and a bit of my lactofermented kraut, and it was so good! I used cranberries instead of cherries, and balsamic vinegar, and super yummy!
If you haven’t tried this, please do! My family loved this recipe! My husband, who doesn’t like kale, thoroughly enjoyed it enough to tell me!
Kids liked it!
My kids still think I am trying to kill them when I feed them greens. So I tried this one. I had no red onion or cherries but substituted yellow onion and dried cranberries. The original recipe is tastier I am sure. But the family loved it.
Even the 4 and 7 year old who are starting to get used to greens.