Braised Kale

Kale is bursting with popularity right now.  It's been deemed as a "super food" due to its vitamin content along with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits. 

For this particular braised kale dish, I started with about 3 cups of washed kale leaves.  These were very young tender plants so I left the leaves whole.  If you purchase or pick larger leaves, remove the tough stem in the middle and tear or cut the leaves into bite sized pieces.

In a 3 quart Dutch oven, bring 3 cups of beef broth to a low boil.  Grate in 3 or 4 garlic cloves and let the garlic soften in the broth for a few minutes.  Depending on the salt content of the broth, you may not need to add any additional salt.

Add the kale leaves and lower the heat to a simmer.  Let the kale cook until almost all of the broth has evaporated.  Add some freshly ground black pepper and a splash of balsamic vinegar just before serving.