Baked Sweet Potato with Sautéed Kale and Avocado

I haven't always been a fan of kale.  In reality, I'm not actually a fan of kale, but it can be appropriate and enjoyable in some instances.  When eating kale, it is essential to cook it down for a long time.  Otherwise it is bitter and unpleasant.

There is no denying that it is healthy.  Anything that dark green has to be packed full of vitamins and minerals.  I'm not doing a good job of selling this dish, but it was delicious.

Even though kale has recently become a popular vegetable, it has very old origins.  It was the most common green vegetable in Europe until the middle ages. There were a few varieties in Greece in the fourth century BC.

There are short varieties and some varieties can be up to seven feet tall.  The leaves can be green, violet-green, or violet brown.  I have only seen green leaves.

For this dish, I used 4 sweet potatoes, 1 large onion, 1 tablespoon butter, 1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 minced garlic cloves, 2 to 3 pounds kale, 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes, and 2 avocados.  These ingredients made for servings.  The idea for this dish came from a Martha Steward recipe.

I washed the sweet potatoes, pierced their skin, and baked them for an hour at 350 degrees.

I added the extra virgin olive oil and butter to a medium-hot pan.

I sautéed the chopped onion and garlic for about five to seven minutes.  I added the salt to the onion mixture.

I added the rinsed and coarsely chopped kale to the onions after five to seven minutes.  I continued to cook  the kale down until is had broken down and softened.  This took several minutes.

I sliced each baked sweet potato in half.  I generously portioned about a fourth of the kale on top of the sweet potato.  I put half of an avocado on each sweet potato.  I thinly sliced the avocado and placed the slices on top of the kale.  

Despite my mixed fillings with kale, this was really delicious.  It was nourishing and satisfying.

 The potato was sweet and tender.  The avocado was sweet and creamy.

 The kale was flavorful, savory, with a little bite.  It was good.

 The ingredients combined well to make something filling and delicious.  It was a appetizing and enjoyable meal.