Poached Alaskan cod

Heirloom tomatoes… Red leaf lettuce… English cucumber… Summer peaches.

These vegetables make my mouth water, and I can’t get enough of them.

So what’s special about them?

They’re all raw.

You consume them in their natural state.

And you can’t possibly improve these foods through cooking.

But that doesn’t apply to all vegetables.

Many of our favorite vegetables are packed with nutrients, but they’re too dense, hard, or fibrous for our digestion to break them down in their raw form.

Whether you:

• blanch them

• roast them

• sauté them

• slow-cook them

…They need to be cooked to make them appetizing and edible.

So how are some people able to scarf down raw salads of fibrous green kale?

There’s only two possibilities.

Either:

• They’re secretly rabbits

• They’re determined to make it NOT taste good

Using kale in a salad or a smoothie is like watering a houseplant with espresso.

It’s just not meant for that purpose.

Chefs, on the other hand, use a slow, flavor-building approach with kale.

Read how I unleashed the rich, complex flavor of green kale in a recent SIMPL recipe:

Take a trip back in time with me to 1992.

I want you to imagine a place that's seared into my food memories from that time.

The restaurant salad bar.

Can you picture it?

The rows of sliced vegetables slowly shriveling and drying...

The plexiglass sneeze guards separating them from you...

The ranch and Italian dressing, the bleu cheese and thousand island. Ooh, even balsamic vinaigrette!

But only at the classy joints, of course.

Now most importantly, can you picture the scraggly green perimeter that enclosed it all?

Yes, that's right!

It was kale.

Being a curious 7-year-old eater, I once snagged a few leaves for myself.

But before I could put them on my plate, my mom wisely stopped me.

"It's not food," she warned me. "It's only there for decoration."

"Your pet rabbits might enjoy it, though."

Fast-forward 32 years, and this ugly ducking of vegetables has become a swan.

21st-century health experts can't get enough kale.

Far from its roots as a humble buffet decoration, it's now a star ingredient in salads, blended into pesto, baked into chips, even pureed into smoothies.

Quite a turnaround.

But, being stoic and immune to trends, I'm not on board.

Not with the raw version, anyway.

See, here's what every chef knows:

Raw kale, collard greens, and other dark, fibrous greens are barely edible for humans.

But when they're slow-cooked?

Their leaves and stems soften and break down in liquid...

Releasing their mouthwateringly rich, dark flavors...

And lending a subtle culinary magic to the soups and stews they're added to.

So with that in mind, I made kale a star ingredient in this week's SIMPL recipe for poached Alaskan cod with black olives, kale, and white bean stew.

Since it's one of the most versatile items available in my monthly Butcher Box subscription, Alaskan cod is a natural fit for this lean, high-fiber dish.

But the flavor comes from the slow-cooking process...

As the beans, kale, garlic, and onions mingle together to release their distinct flavors into this savory blend.

To make this dish, I brown some Italian cured guanciale in a pot, followed by diced onion and chopped garlic.

I add white wine to the pan, followed by diced tomatoes, spices, black olives, bay leaf, and water. After I add white beans and sliced kale to the pot, l cover it and let it simmer.

When the beans and kale are soft, I gently place the cod on top to poach on the surface of the stew.

When the cod is tender after about 10 minutes, it’s done and ready to plate.

Coming in at 57 grams of protein, this one’s a solid addition to your meal prep rotation that's sure to help you build muscle and support your hard work in the gym.

Add this kale recipe to your repertoire, and you might finally feel like a human while eating it.

...instead of a rabbit.

Full recipe:

Poached Alaskan cod with black olives, kale, and white beans stew ⬇️ 

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