I can’t believe that I’m on week nineteen of my farm share with Enterprise Farms. Back in June when it started, I didn’t know what to expect. Would it be too much? Would the vegetables be high quality? Would I get weird stuff I didn’t know what to do with?

Now it’s become a way of life. In general, I know what to expect,and I’ve learned that the vegetables are extremely high quality, generally not too weird, and in just the right amount. 19 weeks in, it’s easy to take for granted the farm share and its contents. The rainbow chard this week – soft bright greens and multi-colored stems – brought me right back down to earth; I feel so blessed for this beautiful food!

So, I decided to spread the love and share my share. Two of my friends – Brian and Angie – kindly shared what they made to be featured here on CLK! First up, is Brian’s Chopped Challenge Style Sautéed Kale & Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with a Pomegranate Dressing. I can’t wait to give this recipe a try – I love the idea of adding pomegranate seeds to the kale! Thanks Brian!

Brian’s Cook Like Kayla Chopped Challenge

Kayla never wants produce to go unloved, so she has graciously donated some of her farm share harvest in return for a guest blog post here on Cook Like Kayla. I too am a lover of fresh fruits and vegetables on my plate, so I gladly took on the challenge. However, I wanted to make it a little more interesting, so I decided to make it a Cook Like Kayla Chopped Challenge (without that pesky time limit).

My “basket” included Kale, Flat Italian Parsley, and Sweet Potatoes from Kayla’s farm share. But as anyone who watched Chopped knows, the basket is never that simple. There is usually a protein, a random liquid, an American snack food, or all three. So for my challenge, I added Concord Grape Wine and a whole turkey to the basket ingredients.

For this post I will focus on the produce portion of the meal. I apologize in advance because I don’t measure anything when cooking, but like to do it the way our grandmothers used to cook, with age old taste tests.

Sautéed Kale & Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with a Pomegranate Dressing

Sweet Potato: Wash and peel 3 medium sweet potatoes and cube into ½ in pieces. Toss the pieces in a mixture of olive oil, a pinch of sea salt, coarse ground black pepper, and rosemary. Roast in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until potatoes are softened, about 30 minutes.

Sautéed Kale: Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add 2 cloves of finely sliced garlic and cook until soft, but not colored. Pour in a healthy amount of Concord Grape Wine. Toss in a bunch of finely minced Flat-leaf Italian Parsley, the seeds of one pomegranate, and a dash of cinnamon.

Let those flavors merry in your skillet for a bit before adding in one bunch of chopped kale. I found that the grape wine flavor is far too sweet and will overpower the dressing and the sautéing liquid, so I balanced it with a couple splashes of balsamic vinegar until I got the flavor that I wanted. Toss the kale with the dressing occasionally until wilted but still crisp.

While all those ingredients were cooking, I also had my whole turkey roasting in the oven and wild rice with rosemary cooking on the stove. All these components will come together with their different flavor profiles to make one fantastic natural Thanksgiving-esque meal. You will love it, especially if you are like me and can’t wait for November 27^th!

A superb presentation that would have the Chopped judges’ taste buds on a roller coaster of flavor. The wild rice provides a nice starchy base that plays well with the softness of the kale and sweet potatoes. In case you thought the plate needed some texture, just bite into a tender kale stem or a pomegranate seed, which will give you a nice crunch and bite of flavor. And finally turkey. You can’t go wrong with turkey.

Thanks for the opportunity to write the blog post Kayla and I hope you issue more Chopped Challenges in the future.