Eat Your Greens!
Who is ready for some lovely leafy greens? The greenhouses are popping, and we've got to start freeing up room for the next round of planting. So, we have another leafy week ahead with Baby Barese (an Italian Chard variety that looks like Bok Choy), Dandelion and a mix of Mustards (including actual Bok Choy) that will make great stir fries, spicy salads and more.
Weeks like this can be a whole lot to take in after months of heavy roots and squash, and finding uses for new greens can feel really intimidating--especially when we start tossing around adjectives like bitter and spicy. So I, Farmer Katie, would like to offer you some of my tried and true, unsolicited advice. Here goes! Yes, you can comb through your cookbooks and search the web far and wide to dig up specific recipes for preparing specific greens in very specific ways. As a food enthusiast, I support this wholeheartedly if that is the type of approach that works for you. But, while I am that person a great deal of the time, I am by no means that person every day or even every week. I know--there goes my mystique. So, here's what happens with greens most frequently in our house:
1) They get treated like they're Spinach, even when they're not. Most easy weeknight recipes seem to be written for Spinach, but nine times out of ten, you can use Kale, Mustard, Rapini, Chard or whatever dark leafy green you have lolling around your crisper drawer in its place. I've included one of my favorite recipes for Rapinikorizo at the bottom of the newsletter, which is tasty and illustrates my approach succinctly. And if a recipe calls for Frozen Spinach, or if you're looking for a handy way to save your greens for later, check out this technique for making Blanched-and-Squeezed Greens.
2) They get chopped up and incorporated into our favorite quick comfort foods like Macaroni & Cheese or Ramen. We just add them in with whatever noodle is there during the last couple of minutes of boiling. Vegetables managed. Deb Perelman's recipe for Pizza Beans also falls into this easy crowd pleasing category. Sure, it calls for Kale, but use what you've got!
3) They're an afterthought. Here's the familiar scenario--one of us thought the other one was in charge of dinner, and now we're growling. So, we quickly sautee some greens, pour over some eggs and get to scrambling. The egg approach also works when dinner plans are premeditated (ie: quiche, strata, & etc). We've been talking about trying out some version of a Green Shakshuka, so I think we might actually be trying out this recipe at some point this week.
Hopefully that brings you a bit of solace and inspiration. Coupled with a bit more Purple Sprouting Broccoli and some vivid Purple Daikon Radishes, all of that should make for some tasty springtime meals and snacks.
Take Care,
Katie