Lemony Kale Bites with Ricotta and Almond

Many years ago, when I first discovered that I was pregnant, I found myself in a Sunday afternoon yoga class.  It was one of those overly warm and muggy Toronto days with the sun filtering orange through the windows of a peaceful second floor studio.  It happened to be mother's day.  The instructor had us come to a seated position with our eyes closed and our bodies quiet.  Once everything was still, she spoke one sentence: 

We are all born of mothers. 

She didn't instruct us absorb the grandeur of her words nor counsel us to spend five blessed moments in non-judgement of our mothers and every other mother on earth - past, present and future.  She didn't need to.  Instead, she simply offered silence. We got it. And it was pretty wonderful.

So, with mother’s day upon us, I thought it might be nice to feature a celebratory brunch bite or dinner appetizer.

These nutritious lemony bites are also a delicious and elegant way of working in some of those underutilized power greens into the diet.

They are rolled in a mixture of ricotta and sunflower seeds and finished with a dusting of ground almond.  You can serve them simply on a singular tray with toothpicks or, for a slightly fancier look, on individual serving spoons with a dollop of plain yogurt and lemon zest as shown in the picture. 

(By the way, I bought the serving spoons at a dollar store - an inexpensive and fun way to dress things up a bit for guests and special occasions).

Lemony Kale Bites with Ricotta and Almond

• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 cups kale, chopped (you could also use spinach, swissh chard or bok choy)
• Joice of one lemon
• Zest of one lemon
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 egg
• sea salt & coarse black pepper to taste
• 3/4 cup ground almond
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt and some extra lemon zest for serving

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Notes:

Make Ahead: You can make the kale bites in advance and simply store them in the fridge prior to baking.  You can also freeze the bites once baked.  Transfer them to an airtight container and freeze for up to two months.  Reheat at 375 F for 15 minutes or until hot.

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Heat oven to 400 F.


Sauté onion and garlic over low heat in a large skillet with olive oil until translucent (about 5 minutes).   Add kale and cook, stirring, for another 5 minutes or until wilted and soft.  Remove skillet from heat and set aside to cool slightly.

Place kale mixture into a blender or food processor along with lemon juice, lemon zest, ricotta, sunflower seeds, egg and a touch of seal salt and black pepper.  Blend until the kale has broken down into small bits and the mixture appears relatively well combined.

Remove kale mixture from blender and place in a plastic container to be stored in the fridge.

While the kale mixture is chilling in the fridge, grind the almonds (I use a coffee grinder for nuts/seeds).

Place ground almonds on a flat plate or bowl.  Scoop 1 tablespoon or so of the chilled kale mixture and place it on top of the ground almond.  Cover kale mixture with almond and gently form into a ball with your fingers – the mixture will be soft and somewhat mushy but you should be able to form a ball with it that is mostly coated with almond.

Gently transfer the coated balls to a foil lined and gently greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 15-20 until the bites are achieving a golden colour and beginning to crisp.

Remove from oven and allow them to cool fully before serving with some yogurt and lemon zest.

Makes approximately 20 lemon kale bites.

We are all born of mothers ~