Emergency Kale and Sweet Potatoes

In my quest to eat more winter vegetables, I found this lovely recipe for Curried Lentils and Sweet Potatoes with Chard which I remembered from the NYT and looked even better because Deb of Smitten Kitchen had made it -and in case you haven’t gone to Smitten Kitchen, you should.

So off I went to the market to buy sweet potatoes and chard – that’s where I hit the first snag. No chard that day – but I stayed calm and bought kale. Later that Sunday, I went to Whole Foods because I had finished my stash of lentils. I stockpile lentils like a squirrel so that I was completely out was unusual. And I should have known better than to wait until late Sunday early in the year, when the whole planet resolves to eat better. I should have known, yet I was in shock when it became clear that Whole Foods was out of lentils – red, green and French Dupuy (also green).

It was also drama at that Whole Foods that day, so rather than try to find another kind of lentils, especially since I just don’t like basic brown lentils very much, I called it a day and went home. I considered putting the sweet potato away for another day and doing my usual routine of wilting the kale in olive oil, but I decided to improvise a bit more. I always wilt spinach or kale or chard in olive oil with some garlic and I wanted to broaden my vegetable horizons.

And that’s how my Emergency Kale and Sweet Potatoes was born. It’s so easy and so tasty – peel two sweet potatoes, cut them into cubes, and boil until fork tender. In the meantime, wilt some washed and torn kale in a tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, add the sweet potatoes, let cook for a couple of minutes. And don’t stir too much or else you end up with mushed up sweet potatoes like in the picture below. Don’t the sweet potatoes photography oddly tofu-like?

Then add the juice of one lemon – the dish is bright and delicious, but also a bit creamy and sweet from the sweet potato. And it’s fast.

As for the Curried Sweet Potatoes and Lentils – I did make them eventually, and it was delicious – I will post it on a future WCW! In the meantime, do check out WCW’s home at Tales of the Fairy Blogmother.