The Cartoon Kitchen: Kale with Raisins and Pine Nuts
This week's Cartoon Kitchen features Serious Eats' cartoonist in residence Larry Gonick's spin on kale. —Ed Levine
This week's Cartoon Kitchen features Serious Eats' cartoonist in residence Larry Gonick's spin on kale. —Ed Levine
I'm on a bit of a pine nut and golden raisin kick—this is the second time this week (here's the first). The combination of sweet and tangy with fancy nuttiness is irresistible. So when I was flipping through Tyler Florence's Tyler's Ultimate and saw this, a Sicilian-style spaghetti turned on its head, everything was decided: A quickly steamed-then-browned head of cauliflower is brightened with parsley and lemon juice (those seem to be pasta-brightening standbys), made airy by crisp panko (Japanese breadcrumbs), and richened with a little anchovy that reflects that nuttiness from the pine nuts. Although if anchovies scare you, they could be skipped. And the raisins are just there for fun.
It’s amazing what a handful of pine nuts can do to a recipe. Even these sliced zucchini sautéed in olive oil magically changed in my skillet from out-of-season blandness to a subtle, nutty satisfaction. And while the pine nuts had me looking the other way, the recipe switched out regular raisins for golden ones, which, though only subtly different on the palate (perhaps a little less sweet and more tangy), are more harmonious for the palette of the dish.