Food Friday: Kale Chips

Two years ago or so I heard of kale chips.  Daughter-in-law A made some for me.  They were fabulous.  I tried making them along the same lines as how you roast other vegetables.  Obviously I had not listened to the directions because cooking them at 400 degrees F. for 30 minutes did NOT work!  Nothing but ashes left.

This morning I arose, cleaned the kitchen where I was staying, and started again making kale chips.  I could not find olive oil.  So...I used the spray bottle of some kind of unknown oil.  I could not find the kosher salt.  So...I used the mineral rock salt that was in a grinder which grinds exceedingly fine.

This time I set the oven temperature at 350 degrees F.  I put the washed, dried, and broken-into-bite-sized-pieces of kale that had previously been stripped from the kale ribs on a Silpat-lined pan.  After spraying them with the no-name oil, I sprinkled them with a mixture of equal amounts of granulated garlic, granulated onion, and salt then some ground black pepper.  I sort of fluffed everything up in hopes that the kale would be coated on both sides with the oil and seasonings.

After five minutes in the oven, I removed the pan and moved the kale around then returned to the oven for another five minutes.  It was pretty close to done. I gave it another 2-3 minutes then pulled it out to cool and finish crisping.

A bunch of kale made two pans of kale chips...because you want the kale to be in a single layer.  You really do.  Don't kid yourself that it will come out really well if you have the kale piled thickly on the pan.  It only takes about ten minutes to bake so do yourself a favor and divide it into two pans...

This is a picture of half of the kale.

When the second pan  was done, the container was heaped with kale chips.  Nice green crispy kale chips.  The only problem with them was they did not taste very good. I was using someone else's recipe and alternate ingredients.  Do yourself another favor by using olive oil drizzled over the kale and perhaps add some chili powder to the garlic, onion, KOSHER salt, and black pepper.  This stuff tasted like nothing. What a disappointment.  Totally my fault for not waiting for someone in the house to tell me where to find the right ingredients.