It ain’t easy being green in the middle of winter. photo by: Nancy Duran

It is quite a challenge getting enough green veg into your diet during the winter months. Frozen peas anyone? Luckily hearty kale and chard can still be found floating around at the markets here and there. This kale greens saute cannot be simpler. It will take you no time flat to pull together and the payoff is pretty grand. When I’m feeling especially unmotivated on a cold and dark winter night (which is pretty much a description of the past 40 or so nights round these parts), this is a welcome bit of freshness on my dinner plate. And as you’ll see in a follow up recipe this week, it’s pretty fantastic in leftovers. So go ahead and double up this recipe and stay tuned…

Serves 4 as a side

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon (or more to taste) crushed red pepper flakes
8 ounces roughly chopped kale greens
Salt to taste
Juice of 1/2 lemon

1. In a large deep saucepan, heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring until the garlic slices are fragrant and softened, about 2 minutes. Be very careful not to burn the garlic.
2. Add 1/4 cup of water and the kale greens in two batches, stirring the first batch of greens into the pan so that they begin to wilt before you add the second batch. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Uncover the pan, stir, and add salt to taste. Cook uncovered a further 2 minutes, until the greens have softened but are still bright in color. Remove from the heat and add the juice of 1/2 lemon. Stir and serve.

Nutritional analysis based on 4 servings (does not include salt to taste):
Calories: 95, Fat 7g, Sodium 25 mg, Carbohydrate 7g, Fiber 1g, Sugar 0g, Protein 2g