Kale could make your own favorites list

Everyone has a favorite T-shirt. Mine says "Eat More Kale." It is hand-printed by a Vermont T-shirt maker, Bo Muller-Moore, and it was first designed for two farmer friends who wore it at the local farmers market. Demand grew instantaneously. On his website, eatmorekale.com, Muller-Moore says the shirt makes him think of "good food grown in a sustainable manner by local farmers." To me, it is a reminder to, well, eat more kale.

Kale is one of those foods, like sardines, that is high in all the right things (in kale's case, antioxidants, vitamins A and C, folic acid, calcium and iron) but rarely makes most people's top-10 list. Truthfully, kale might not make my own top 10, but it is probably in my top 20, especially if I can include other cruciferous vegetables; "cruciferous" being the scientific name for a large family of vegetables, including cabbage, bok choy, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, watercress and chard (which is considered cruciferous by some sources and not by others).

These are the vegetables that make a meal "pop"; think of the first spring radishes in your salad, bok choy in your beef stir-fry or a side dish of sauteed kale with an unctuous meat stew.

No question that kale and its relatives can be bitter, which is why I am always on the lookout for good ways to serve them. Chef Mario Batali, in his new book, "Molto Gusto," includes recipes not only for kale but also for chard, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli, in tempting dishes like cauliflower with olives and cabbage bruschetta. Try the recipe below, and you too will want to "mangia more kale."

• Marialisa Calta is the author of "Barbarians at the Plate: Taming and Feeding the American Family" (Perigee, 2005). More at marialisacalta.com.