Sauteed Kale

This is one of my mom's go to dishes. She often serves it with lightly fried fish which I plan on doing tonight. My mom is an excellent cook, she claims she's not fond of cooking and does it more because she has to than out of a deep passion. Bizarrely, for someone who lacks passion for cooking, she is always exploring and comes up with little twists and turns making each dish especially delicious.

I love her sauteed kale. It's clean, perfectly cooked and loaded with garlic! The thing that I always keep in mind when sauteing any leafy green is that it is delicate and can be consumed raw. Given this, I should cook it just until it's cooked through. It's terrible when spinach and collard greens are cooked to a pulp. You still want there to be some texture and give to the vegetable otherwise it tastes like mush.

Ingredients:
1 package kale (any variety)
1 generous tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic roughly chopped (you can use less, I really love garlic)
1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Remove the stalk from the kale and rinse well. In a medium to large saute pan heat the olive and add garlic. Cook on med-low heat until it softens..if there's not enough oil add a bit more, you don't want to burn them! Add the chili flakes and cook a minute more.

Add the leaves a bunch at a time. Don't be alarmed if they pile up as they wilt very quickly! Cook down until everything has just about wilted. You really don't want to overcook them. They should still have texture and bite. Finish with a good pinch of salt and a little pinch of pepper.