Easy Cheesy Greens and Beans
Whenever I have kale in the fridge I feel more like an adult than I do at any other time. Including when I’m doing things like rebalancing the risk profile in my pension. No contest. Having kale in the fridge makes me feel even more responsible than that. It’s a direct result of the stranglehold kale had on the popular American imagination in the early 2010s. Before the culture shift that had Beyonce wearing a sweatshirt that said “KALE” I knew it as the garnish I needed to add to plates of chicken and ribs before I ran them out to the dining room when I was a server.
Turns out kale had a pr manager. A very real woman named Oberon Sinclair who thought it would be fun to get everyone eating kale. As far as challenges go, you have to give her credit for picking the least obvious one on the planet and then knocking it out of the park. A decade later and we’re still eating it. We’re massaging it with salt to make it more palatable in a salad, we’re baking it into crisps for guilt free snacking, we’re cutting it up as small as possible to try to incorporate it into anything in order to feel worthy. Somewhere along the trend line I realized I actually liked it. I enjoy the fact it’s unyielding. I like that you have to work a little to understand it and bring out its best. It’s the cranky old neighbor of vegetables and you know that movie ends with everyone becoming best friends.
If you don’t share my appreciation for the cabbage’s cousin, let’s start with this recipe. It is vegetarian but if you’re a vegetarian who is shy about dairy products you’ll want to move along. There’s cream and two kinds of cheese. Outside of meat (think lasagne) what can stand up to that level of luscious? Kale can. Cabbage can, too. So they come to this party together and not only hold their own but almost make you feel good about eating a plate of such rich, creamy gorgeousness. Think broadly about what counts as a “green” here. Any color or kind of cabbage or kale will work. It’s comfort food over health food and would, technically, count as a dish you could bring to vegetarian Thanksgiving.
As a matter of fact, you can bring it to any gathering because this one can go the distance at a potluck. It’s sturdy, hearty, filling and moreish. You’ll think about it when it’s gone. Not in an ex-boyfriend kind of way but with the heart expanding kind of anticipation that comes from seeing your best friend after a long separation. That seems like a lot to put onto one dish but this is it. You’ll feel like an adult because you got some dark leafy greens on the table but enjoy it like a wayward teenager who has no idea kale is actually cool.
