This colorful kale dish featuring fennel, cranberries, and walnuts makes a lovely Thanksgiving side dish, but you need not wait for a special occasion to enjoy it. Recipe contributed by Ellen Kanner. Photos by Hannah Kaminsky.
Festive Kale with Fennel, Cranberries, and Walnuts
This colorful kale dish featuring fennel and walnuts makes a lovely Thanksgiving side dish, but you need not wait for a special occasion to enjoy it.
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Servings: 6 to 8
Ingredients
- 1 fennel bulb
- 2 lbs kale roughly 8 cups, packed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ cup sherry
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- ⅓ cup dried cranberries
- ⅓ cup chopped walnuts
- salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Remove stalks and fronds from fennel. Chop fennel bulb into bite-sized cubes and pieces.
- Remove stems from the kale leaves, and cut the kale into bite-sized pieces or strips. You can discard the stems, or slice them very thinly and use as well.
- Heat oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add chopped fennel to pot and sauté for 8 to 10 minutes, or until tender.
- Add kale by the handful, stirring gently until wilted, but still bright green, about 8 minutes. Stir in sherry, pepper flakes and cranberries.
- Spread walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast for 10 minutes in a 350°F oven or toaster oven until golden brown and fragrant. Or, you can toast them on a dry skillet over medium heat. Let the walnuts cool briefly, then stir into the fennel and kale mixture.
- Season with salt and pepper, transfer to a bowl, and serve.
Vegan-ize any recipe!Grab our free vegan cheat sheet, packed with my favorite easy substitutions to make any recipe vegan.
Ellen Kanner writes the Meatless Monday column for The Huffingon Post, and is the Edgy Veggie, a syndicated columnist.
- Find lots more recipes on VegKitchen for kale, collards, and other hardy greens.
- Here are more recipes to enjoy a Vegetarian and Vegan Friendly Thanksgiving.
- Find more ways to make Special Occasions and Entertaining easier and healthier.
Josh says
Just one question, how should the kale be chopped/prepared before it is added to the pan?
Nava says
Josh, sorry for the omission. It has been amended, above ...
Brbsu says
What is the nutritional information for this dish?