Cheesy Kale Potatoes

One of my favorite breakfast foods of all time: cheesy kale potatoes. I know there are probably plenty of you out there who are probably making a disgusted face right now, and others who are intrigued. Allow me to enlighten you.

What you'll need:

The essentials:
Potatoes (I prefer baby red potatoes)
Cheese (you will never regret Cabot Extra Sharp Vermont Cheddar)
Kale (lots, the leafier and greener the better. Use more than you think you need, it cooks down)

As well as:
A large fry pan with a lid (or something you can cover it with. Use a cookie sheet if you have to.
Minced garlic (a few cloves)
Vegetable oil
Salt
Water

To start, slice your potatoes, no thicker than a quarter inch. It's preference how thin, but I like them about an eighth of an inch thick. You also want to rinse and chop your kale. I chop it by holding the whole bunch and chopping at from one end to the other at about 1-2 inch intervals. You can also just rip it up with your hands. It should look something like this:

Next put some oil in a large fry pan. It should be enough so that when you swirl it around it covers the bottom of the pan, but not much more than that. Turn the heat to high, and let the oil heat up. THIS PART IS IMPORTANT. If you put the potatoes in before the oil is hot, you will never get them all browned, which would make this dish half as tasty. You can tell the oil is hot enough if when you put a tiny piece of potato in it bubbles furiously.

When the oil is hot enough, throw in your potatoes. You want to fry/sauté these until they are almost all browned (don't burn them. keep stirring/flipping/rotating).

In the mean time (or before hand, it doesn't matter) slice your cheese fairly thin (you want it to be able to melt easily). This is another point of personal preference: if you love cheese, slice lots. If you're not such a big fan, only slice a little.

When about 70% of the potatoes are getting decently browned, turn the heat down to medium and throw in the garlic. If you love garlic, put in lots. You just want to make sure that you don't burn it, so keep everything moving with a spoon or spatula, or flip it by flicking the pan (if you're feeling adventurous).

Let the garlic brown for maybe a minute, or judge it by how fast the garlic is cooking. You dont want to over cook it. Err on the side of undercooked, because it will be in the pan for a little while longer.

Then throw your kale into the pan. You might have to do this in batches depending on how much kale you have. Put in as much as will reasonably fit, pour in a little bit of water (to steam it) and cover with the lid. Let it steam a little, mix everything up, add a little water if it has all disappeared, cover again, repeat. You should add a judicious helping of salt in this stage, it makes everything taste better. You will regret it if you overdo it,  but I have yet to put in too much salt.

The kale will cook down, and if you have more kale to add, add it as soon as there is room, and repeat the whole steaming/stirring process.

Once all of the kale is in and well on its way to being cooked, add the cheese. If you like crunchy kale, do this sooner rather than later. If you like well cooked kale, steam the heck out of it before you add the cheese. I personally like to spread the cheese out and steam for just under a minute, to keep the cheese all in a layer. You can mix it in if you like. Now you're done! enjoy: