cookery · ix

winter kale

a small dish · twelve minutes · after a hard frost

ingredients

• a head of kale, the curly kind picked after frost
• a clove of garlic, sliced
• a spoon of olive oil, a small one of butter
• chilli flakes, a small pinch
• a squeeze of lemon
• salt

method

1. strip the leaves from the spine; tear them into pieces the size of a postage stamp.
2. warm the oil and butter; add garlic and chilli; when the garlic is golden, throw in the kale and a small splash of water.
3. cook fast, lid on, three minutes; salt, lemon, off the heat.

a vegetable that becomes generous only after the frost has been unkind to it.

good beside the potatoes, in the lentil stew, or alone on a slice of bread at the late afternoon.