Kalesagne

Ok, I really like kale. Especially the bumpy kind. You know, the one they call dinosaur kale at Fred Meyer, and Lacinato Kale at the farmer's market. This is another lazy-ass lasagne recipe, by way of cabbage rolls. Cabbage rolls are another thing I love, but if I'm too lazy to make a proper lasagne, you know I'm never gonna make cabbage rolls. And meatloaf. Meatloaf is ideal lazy people food. Here's how it goes:

2 small or one large bunch of bumpy kale.
1/2 lb ground beef
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 small onion
1 unit beef broth concentrate
1, 8-oz can tomato sauce- I used Goya brand, it's a bit spicy
1/3 cup, more or less, ketchup
a pinch of pumkin pie seasoning
about 1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
salt & pepper

Put the kale leaves, whole, in a pan big enough to fit them all, add about a half cup water and the broth concentrate. Cook at medium-low, lightly covered. Turn occasionally, until the leaves are pretty tender and most of the liquid has evaporated. You aren't really either boiling or steaming them.

Meanwhile, mince up the onion and put it in a heavy bottomed saucepan with the beef. Cook at medium, and when the juices start rendering out of the beef, add the worcestershire, pepper and and pumkin pie spice. When the meat is done, add the tomato sauce, ketchup and rice. Check to see if it's salty enough.

Divide the kale and the filling into thirds, layer in a dish starting with the kale. Top with a little extra ketchup if you like. (I do like.) Bake at 375 until it's brown at the edges, about an hour.

Some things to know:

• This quanity will make a small pan. I should have used my littlest casserole dish, but the kale leaves were deceptively fluffy.
• There's no reason to cook the beef mix first. You could put all the raw filling ingredients together and layer it with the braised kale, but you'd have to bake it longer to compensate for the liquid that evaporates when you fry the meat first. I'm gonna try that next time.
• You need a sharp knife to serve with, kale leaves are tougher than noodles. A longer cooking time might be an advantage here.

Oh! and speaking of which, I got lotsa cool stuff at the farmer's market this week. The berries didn't last past Sunday night, neither did the baby squash. Wait'll I get pictures of what I used the beets for, it's quite a thing.