braised kale

i came across this recipe for "braising hearty greens" while flipping through a copy of cook's illustrated (either that or one of those america's test kitchen magazines) at the grocery store - and of course i did what most people do when you don't necessarily want to buy the whole magazine but you still want that one recipe you just saw.....i took a picture of it with my ipod touch and went home to try it out. =)

kale seems to be everywhere right now, and i used to just saute it with some garlic/olive oil which was not bad. but braising them this way somehow turns them really tender without being too soggy...and there's no bitterness to it at all! i'm just going to type it out word for word since the recipe is basically perfect:

ingredients:
2 Tbs unsalted butter
1 shallot, sliced thin
1 lb hearty greens (kale, mustard, turnip or collards) stemmed, leaves chopped into 1-inch strips
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1.5 tsp brown sugar
salt + pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1.5 tsp cider vinegar

directions:
1. melt 1 Tbs butter in medium saucepan over medium heat.
2. add shallot and cook until softened, 2-3 minutes.
3. add greens, broth, sugar, 1/4 tsp salt and cayenne. cover, reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until completely tender, about 10 minutes.
(allow 2-3 extra minutes ot cooking time if using collard greens)
4. uncover and increase heat to medium high, stirring occasionally until liquid is nearly evaporated.
5. off heat, stir in remaining 1 Tbs butter and vinegar. season with salt + pepper to taste and serve.

i've used this recipe a couple times already - but tonight i ran out of chicken broth so i just used plain water, and i also only had a red onion instead of a shallot. the result was definitely not as tasty - boo. but i added a poached egg on top to make up for it. and as you can see from the picture - the yolk was completely busting apart from the egg white. i don't think that's supposed to happen......oh well.