Kale has been a staple in our weekly CSA share for several weeks now. Usually I serve it stir fried with a little fresh garlic and salt, which is very good. But variety is a good thing, too, so I was pleased to find a main recipe that used kale in Real Simple Magazine, July 2013. The original recipe called for zucchini but suggested swapping it for other in season vegetables like kale or cabbage.
This dish is very easy to make and tasted divine. The hardest thing was to find puff pastry sheets rather than puff pastry shells. The sheets can be hard to work with, so read the thawing and handling directions before thawing them. (Don’t ask how I know this.) My guess is this would also work with thin crust pre-made pizza crusts, which are easy to find and handle.
If you compare the original recipe to this version, you’ll also see I doubled the recipe, used a different kind of sausage (easier to find where we live), and added a few time-saving tips. This recipe received the coveted Hiram seal of approval several times over. In fact, he asked how soon it would be on the menu again. I loved it too because the puff pastry is dairy-free!
Kale and Sausage Tart with Dijon
1 pound ground Italian sausage
2-3 cups kale, pulled off the stem and chopped coarsely
Kosher salt and black pepper
2 sheets puff pastry, thawed
6 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Heat oven to 400°. Place two pizza stones in oven to heat.
Cook the sausage in a frying pan on top of the stove, breaking and crumbling it with a spoon, until halfway cooked. Transfer to a plate lined with paper toweling; reserve the skillet.
Add kale, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper to drippings in the skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until just beginning to wilt, 2-3 minutes.
Take pizza stones out of the oven. Spray with a small amount of cooking spray. Unfold pastry sheets onto stones, and prick all over with a fork, leaving a 1/2 inch border around the dough. Spread the mustard on the pastry, avoiding the border; top with the kale. Cut each tart into 8 pieces and serve. Can also swap chopped cabbage or 2 small zucchini (about 1 pound and sliced into rounds) for the kale.
