Burnt Green Onion Dip with Curly Kale from ‘NOPI’

Every week, Yahoo Food spotlights a cookbook that stands out from all the rest. This week’s cookbook is NOPI: The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully (Ten Speed Press). Read more about Yahoo Food’s Cookbook of the Week here.

Photograph by Jonathan Lovekin

By Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully

Burnt Green Onion Dip with Curly Kale
Serves 6

Make just the dip if you want to keep things simple: it’s delicious spread on bruschetta or at a barbecue, alongside some grilled ears of corn.

Slices of fried red chile and thin slivers of garlic are like old Ottolenghi friends. They’ve been together for many a year, sprinkled on top of various dishes of roasted eggplant or with grilled broccoli in the salad that has become our signature dish. They’re on stage again here—providing heat and crunch and the supporting act to a mellow, creamy dip. Use lacinato kale, if you like, instead of the curly kale.

Instead of green onions you can use big fat Catalonian Cal?ot onions, if you can find them; they are wonderfully meaty, so are particularly happy to be grilled. One important point to remember: there’s no such thing as overcharring your onions, so hold your nerve at the grill, whichever variety you are using. The more burnt they are, the better and more smoky they will taste. If you’re having a barbecue, it is well worth grilling the onions outdoors; if you’re using a grill pan indoors, make sure your kitchen is very well ventilated indeed.

For the green onion dip:
1 head garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 1/4 ounces green onions (12 to 14), ends trimmed, then sliced in half lengthwise (3 ¾ ounces)
1 1/2 tablespoons sunflower oil
2/3 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
coarse sea salt and black pepper

For the kale:
6 tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3 large red chiles, seeded and thinly sliced
1 1/4 pounds curly kale, washed, tough stems removed, cut widthwise into 1 1/2-inch slices (1 pound)
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 425°F/220°C (390°F/200°C convection).

To make the green onion dip, slice off the top quarter of the head of garlic and discard. Place the garlic in the center of a square of foil with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Wrap up the garlic, place it on a baking sheet, and roast for 30 minutes, until soft. Set aside and, when cool enough to touch, squeeze out the garlic cloves, discard the skin, and, using the flat side of a sharp knife, crush to form a purée. Set aside until ready to use.

Place the green onions in a bowl and brush with the sunflower oil. Sprinkle over 1/4 teaspoon of salt and a good grind of black pepper. Place a small grill pan over high heat and ventilate your kitchen. When the pan is smoking hot, add the green onions and grill for 5 to 6 minutes, turning halfway through, until black and burnt all over. Set aside to cool, then finely chop. Transfer the onions to a bowl and add the cream cheese, sour cream, the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, the roasted garlic purée, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Mix well and set aside until ready to use.

Put the oil for the kale into a large sauté pan and place over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and chile slices and fry for 4 to 6 minutes, stirring constantly, until crisp and golden brown. Add the kale, along with 1 ½ teaspoons of salt and a good grind of black pepper, and cook for 3 minutes—you might need to do this in two or three batches—stirring often, until the kale is cooked but still retains a bite. Remove from the heat, add the lemon juice, and serve warm on a large platter or individual starter plates, with dollops of the green onion dip spooned on top.

Reprinted with permission from NOPI: The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully (Ten Speed Press).

NOPI: The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully. (Photo: Jonathan Lovekin)

For more awesome vegetarian dishes, visit our Vegetarian Pinterest board and get to pinning!

More delicious ways to enjoy your veggies:

Broccolini with Grilled Lemon, Pine Nuts and Aleppo Chile

Spicy Green Beans, Szechuan-Style

Lemon Garlic Eggplant With Labneh Recipe From ‘I Will Not Eat Oysters’