Buying and cooking with kale is a first for me. When I went to pay for it at Zehers the cashier said, "Well, what is this monstrosity?" as she looked for the numerical code. Thanks lady. Thanks for insulting my delicious kale.The first thing I did to prep the recipe was to wash & chop the kale. It was so dirty! There was so much junk hidden in the crevasses, I found myself washing it 3 times. It really freaked me out, I kept picturing pulling back a leaf and finding a bug. It is an odd vegetable because it's a leaf but it's so sturdy the outer edges are almost broccoli-like.
This is probably the first real goof of a recipe. I found several discrepancies in the recipe. For instance the instruction asked to fry sliced garlic over medium heat in rendered bacon fat. Garlic burns fast, even over medium heat. I had to take the pan off the heat almost immediately to prevent burning. The recipe also asked to hold back a cup of pasta cooking water to thicken the sauce. After adding 2 cups of chicken broth I didn't need to make this pasta any more runny. In fact I had to let it sit for a few minutes to thicken. Another issue was the fontina. It didn't melt easily even though it is a very soft cheese. It seemed to gob up and stick to the edges of the kale. I'll have to remember to add the cheese in batches next time and possibly add the kale after it has absorbed into the pasta.
This pasta was not very good. I'll admit, the fontina was amazing and I'll definitely use it again in a pasta dish. I bet it would be amazing in combination with cheddar for mac & cheese. But the kale is not my cup of tea. I am almost finding myself quite turned off by this vegetable after my experience yesterday.
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