Kale-Broccoli with Corn, Eggplant Fillets and Hummus over Lemon-Rosemary Bread

My wife and I were very pleased with today's dinner. She has been in the mood for greens, so I thought that I would make a lacinato kale main dish inspired by the red kale one that I had made on January 3rd. Any kind of kale is of course very nutritious, but I found that my wife had some broccoli that needed to be used - another nutritional powerhouse.

I put a little bit of olive oil into the bottom of a medium-large stock pot, and heated it over medium heat. Just a few moments later (since my pan was stainless steel, which heats up quickly), I added a medium shallot that I had cut into 1/4" strips and the crowns, with florets cut into quarters, of two stalks of broccoli. I let that cook for about two minutes, letting the broccoli get cooked and deeper in color.

In the meantime, I sliced the kale just like I did last time; I laid the leaves out and just went down inch by inch, slicing across from tip to stem. I had leftover liquid from the green kale that I had cooked last week (my wife enjoyed drinking some of the leftover with the meal and remarked how tasty it was; I also served her some of the nutritious brew from tonight's meal). I added a cup and a half of it to the pan (but I later took note that a cup probably would have sufficed) and a little salt, along with the kale, and brought it to a boil. I reduced the heat and simmered, covered, for about 6-8 minutes. Then, I removed the cover and let the vegetables cook for another 7-9 minutes or so, till, well, it tasted right :-) !

While that was cooking, I roasted two ears of corn directly over the gas flame of my stove. I stripped the kernels from the cobs with a knife.

I poured off the excess liquid from the pan, serving it to my wife to enjoy with the meal, then I mixed in the corn, a 2-ounce single serve packet of "Flame Roasted Green Chile Singles" from 505 Southwestern, and about 1/2 teaspoon of finely diced fresh ginger. I served it with some heirloom yellow tomato slices and guacamole.

I also served what turned out to be a delicious and hearty open-faced sandwich. I was excited today when I stopped by at A Southern Season gourmet grocery store to find a number of fine Italian products, 6 ounce bottles tastefully decorated with a cloth cover on top, on clearance for 99 cents. They seem to be artisinally produced and imported from Italy; there is no website listed, but the company is Vizzino. I purchased a number of artichoke varieties (whole, roasted, "country style" pieces), as well as shredded bell peppers, and "eggplant fillets". These fillets (normally $6.59 but only .99 !) are 65% eggplant fillets (thinly sliced and, I think, raw), 33% extra-virgin olive oil, wine vinegar, chili pepper, garlic, "origan" (which the folks at the store said is marjoram, a close relative of oregano), mint, and salt. I put some lemon hummus on fresh lemon rosemary sourdough bread, then topped with fillets. We loved it, and all of dinner!

Yesterday, we had an interesting potluck with a talk about cohousing. One of our members lives at the relatively new Pacifica cohousing community, where we met, and, after eating, she presented about cohousing and its tie-in (especially in terms of sustainability) to vegetarianism. We picked up a prepared vegan cherry pie and some guacamole for our contribution; it was a big turn out of about 35 people, and there was a lot of good all-vegan food!