Recipe: Cavolo Nero / Kale and Blue Cheese Toastie

Call this less a recipe, more inspiration. It almost seems daft to write this out into a method as it’s basically: 1. sauté kale; 2. pile into mustard-spread bread with lots of blue cheese; 3. toast…but I would never have thought of it, and it’s one of my favourite lunches. I can’t find the original recipe, so this is my re-creation with apologies and thanks to its inventor. Try it, I promise it’s a gem.

We get beautiful cavolo nero and kale from Phantassie Organics and Dunbar’s Backlands Community Garden. If you’re not keen on blue cheese, this would of course work with cheddar (smoked cheddar would be amazing), gruyere, brie, etc.

Makes 2 toasties

Ingredients
2 handfuls cavolo nero / any kind of kale; tough stalks removed and roughly torn or chopped
Mustard – Dijon ideally, but any kind will be fine
4 slices sourdough bread
70g (ish) blue cheese
Black pepper
50g (ish) butter
Optional: a squeeze of lemon juice; a couple of sprigs of thyme or oregano, leaves picked

Method

1.      In a frying pan, melt a knob of butter with a drop of oil (this stops the butter burning). Sauté the washed cavolo nero with a pinch of pepper, and thyme or oregano (optional). Throw in a splash of water to help it wilt. Squeeze over a little lemon, also optional.

2.      Meanwhile, scrape mustard over two of the slices of bread.

3.      Pile half the kale on each mustard-spread slice of bread, then top with generous slices of blue cheese and close the sandwiches.

4.      Re-heat the frying pan, and butter the top of the bread. My preferred way of doing this is to melt the butter in the microwave and brush it on with a pastry brush – easier and more even.

5.      Place the sandwiches into the pan, butter-side down. While they’re toasting, butter the top, then flip over after a couple of minutes and fry until both sides are golden brown and the cheese is melted.