Greens Recipes

I grew up in Tennessee, where greens, both wild and farm grown was considered a staple, much like Newfoundland; our greens were always boiled and seasoned with meat, usually ham or bacon. Turnip greens were served on a shallow platter, encircled with boiled eggs cut in half, set in the centre table with a small bottle of vinegar, some home made hot pepper sauce and the salt/pepper shakers. After our greens were on the plate, we sprinkled with chipped up eggs, splashed with vinegar, etc. This along with cornbread and a heaping plate of sliced, ripe tomatoes from Mom’s garden could make a meal, especially lunch. For dinner, the greens might be a side dish along with fried chicken or baked ham and pones of crisp, fresh baked cornbread. For the record, my Mom made fresh baked biscuits, dozens each morning, not only for molasses or honey, but also to clutch ham or sausage which often we into lunch pails for my brothers and Dad. She made yeast breads, buns and pineapple rolls on Sundays.

Braising Mix was a new dish for me. That’s why we began carefully following recipes such as the one from Emily Sokowe, Farm Notes, Week 1. Today, in our kitchen, Braising Mix will be a mixture of many things, seasoned many ways and served as a main dish or side dish. In fact, this week, we may clip in some green garlic with scissors, if we didn’t use it all in the omelet this morning. Mike and Fumiko sometimes use braising mix as a salad. They both really enjoy it.

Wilting Greens Salad

A couple of years ago, we got this e-mail from another Veggie Coop Member:

“So I was quite famished by the time my husband and I rushed home for my new addiction – fresh salad mix with apples, cheese and red onions.

I whipped it together, fried some rice and enjoyed the oddest tasting but most delicious salad. It had a bite to it and is was very crisp. About half way through, my husband and I realized we had made a great salad out of the wilting greens. It was a hit!

I can’t wait to try the real salad tomorrow as intended. (Cheers/ Maggie Keiley)”

EGGS IN A NEST

Source: Animal, Vegetable and Miracle by Barbara Kinsolver. Harper Collins, Publishers, 2007. This is a first for us, easy and will accommodate different kind of vegetables and greens. We used five eggs and it made good portions for five.

2 cups uncooked brown rice. Cook rice with 4 cups pot of water in a covered pot while other ingredients are being prepared.

Olive Oil – a few tablespoons

1 medium onion, chopped and garlic to taste. Saute onions and garlic in olive oil in a wide skilled until lightly golden. Carrots, chopped. (1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes.) Add and saute for a few more minutes, adding just enough water to rehydrate the tomatoes.

1 really large bunch of chard, coarsely chopped.

Mix with other vegetables and cover pan for a few minutes. Uncover, stir well, then use the back of a spoon to make depressions in the cooked leaves, circling the pan like numbers on a clock.

Eggs.

Break an egg into each depression, being careful to keep yolks whole. Cover pan again and allow eggs to poach for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve over rice.

A Perfect Early Season Dinner.

Mike was reading the Kingsolver book. When I asked him if we had enough fresh broccoli for a couple of quiche for the vegetarian friends our daughter invited for dinner, he suggested this recipe, instead. I was out of brown rice and used basmati. One of the guests avoids garlic. I substituted a few sprigs of fresh dill instead. No sun fried tomatoes; used l/2 C. fresh zucchini, cubed and three or four mushrooms, thinly sliced. Other than that, I tried to follow the recipe, clipping several small green onions in first, next chipping the chard stems and adding them early with the carrots, followed a few minutes later by the zucchini; finally the chard leaves which had been made into wide, open strips. This served beautifully, poached egg in a nest of colourful greens, fresh carrot strips on individual plate along with the rice. I added fresh tomato wedges as a contrast to the greens, the eggs and carrots. A bowl of steamed broccoli/cauliflower was placed on the table along with home made bread. Salad: The salad mix spread lightly in a large wooden salad bowl, then sprinkled with Alpine strawberries and cashews. We usually serve our salad with a side dish a variety of salad fixings such as small green onions, sliced avocado, tomato wedges, fresh mandarin sections and sprouts. Later, in the evening after much conversation with the guests whom we had not seen all summer, the dishes were cleared and Mike brought out the rhubarb-strawberry ice cream he made earlier in the afternoon. Toby, our daughter, set out her chocolate brownies.

CHINESE CABBAGE

Another early season vegetable not fully appreciated by some North American folks, including me. Before we started growing Chinese Cabbage, my main experienced was seeing it in box stores, usually heads slashed down the middle, sometimes a bit brown where it was cut or in Farmers Markets in Berkeley or North Carolina.

It Goes A Long Way, Baby! Steamed is the easiest the way to serve Chinese Cabbage. However, when it is in season, it is abundant – and then, it is gone, so, we usually have Chinese Cabbage one way or another almost every day in season. After you have tried Chinese Cabbage in stir fries, a sweet and sour soup, layered with other veggies dribbled with olive oil and roasted on high heat in the oven and tossed with Chinese pasta, why not try making Cole slaw and/or Mock Cabbage Rolls.

Chinese Cabbage Cole Slaw? In Tennessee, various forms of Cole slaw were much more popular than green salads; few summer meals would be without Cole slaw. My mom’s recipe for Cole Slaw was three ingredients – cabbage, fresh ripe tomatoes and onions; no grated carrots and certainly not raisins or poppy seeds. I choose the largest bowl I have in the kitchen, filling it with thinly sliced, Chinese cabbage strips, cut crosswise, then added three or four tomatoes, thinly sliced and chopped along with one large thinly sliced and chopped onion. The dressing is mayonnaise, vinegar, cider or white, a tablespoon of sugar, a teaspoon of salt, combined to lightly cover other ingredients. Taste; add more of whatever – probably another cap or two of vinegar, if it is too dry or too sweet. Or another tomato?

Cole Slaw/ Pork Sandwiches. Mike makes smoked pork on the barbecue. It usually lasts several days. For supper, it is served with sweet potatoes, green beans and Cole slaw. Plans for Lunch the next day – pork sandwiches with Cole slaw and baked beans which is the pairing we have in Tennessee to celebrate July 4th . . The challenge was that there was no cole slaw left; not a tablespoon except the l/2 cup I set aside in a secret place for Mike’s mid-night snack. Not really a problem – A short trip to back forty and more slicing and mixing to have make the Cole Slaw for the pork sandwiches. .

Mock Cabbage Rolls .When I was Director of Daybreak Parent Child Centre, a service for children with special needs and their families, we offered a weekly cooking program, using the kitchen in the parent centre. The idea was to bring in recipes that the women might like to use with their families, so they could taste it for themselves. When we finished, we sat together for a quiet meal, sharing ideas about cooking and parenting. We made all kind of things, but, usually started our cooking program each fall with dishes which using ingredients that were already familiar such as cabbage rolls. Instead of making actual cabbage rolls which would take more time, the women made a casserole, with layers of cabbage leaves, rice, seasoned ground beef, and tomato sauce. Everything was cooked separately in advance; the cabbage was steamed, the rice and meat prepared separately, then layered in the casserole. First cabbage, then a first layer of rice, then meat, more cabbage leaves and tomato sauce on top. It was certainly a hit among the women, some of whom had never cooked rice from scratch.

Back In the Family Kitchen. A few days ago, I adapted this idea with the Chinese cabbage, using European Style Italian Sausage. I started with several layers of steamed cabbage because it is so thin; next cooked rice, then thick Italian Sausages that had been braised in a hot skillet. These were put together closely, to make a single continuous layer almost like a meat loaf, then topped with more steamed cabbage leaves and finally topped with tomato sauce or your favourite pasta sauce. I was in a hurry and just opened a jar of basil, organic tomato pasta sauce. Slip into oven at 350 degrees about 45 minutes, until sauce has oozed down toward bottom and is bubbly. Sound Good? It was. I could close my eyes and imagine the real thing – European Cabbage rolls at Wolfie’s Restaurant in North Miami where we used to have dinner with Mike’s folks many years ago. .

Gingered Greens and Tofu (serves 4 from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home)

2 cakes tofu (about 1.5 lb)

3 Tbsp lime juice

2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

Pinch cayenne pepper or hot sauce

Toasted cashews or peanuts (optional)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 Tbsp grated ginger root

6 cups of either bok choi, chineese cabbage, or swiss chard

Tofu marinade

1/2 cup Soy sauce

1/2 cup Sherry

1/4 cup rice or apple cider vinegar

3 Tbsp. brown sugar

1.  Simmer marinade.

2.  Lay 1/2 inch slices tofu in baking pan and pour on warm marinade.

3.  Sprinkle on 2 Tbsp oil and Set aside for 5-10 minutes.

4.  Prepare remaining ingredients for stir fry.

5.  Broil tofu 7-8 minutes, until lightly brown and then turn over.

6.  Stir fry greens in 2 Tbsp oil.  When just tender add lime juice, cilantro, and hot seasoning.

7.  When tofu is brown, toss gently with cooked greens.

8.  Top with nuts if you choose.

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Spinaci alla Romana (Spinach, chard, or escarole with pine nuts and raisins – serves 4 to 6 – from “Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant”)

3 Tbsp raisins (golden raisins look wonderful)

3 garlic cloves, sliced into thin rounds

3 Tbsp pine nuts

1/4 cup olive oil

2 lb chard, escarole, or spinach

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1.  Soak the raisins in hot water to cover until you are ready to add them to the greens.

2.  Steam the cleaned greens on high heat for 2 or 3 minutes.  The greens should be bright green and the leaves still retaining some of their shape with volume reduced.  Drain well.

3.  Saute the garlic and pine nuts in olive oil for a few minutes, until golden.  Add greens and stir in the raisins.  Toss to coat the greens with hot oil.

4.  Add salt and pepper and serve immediately.

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Steamed, Pureed and Sauteed Greens

Wash greens thoroughly (although not too thoroughly cuz they *are*organic, and why waste perfectly good B-12?).  Put greens in large pot.

Add ginger (peeled and coarsely chopped), garlic (peeled) and green onion. All of these are optional.  Throw in a couple of tablespoons of water to keep the greens from adhering to the bottom of the pot.  Turn the heat on to medium-high and cook for approximately ten minutes until the greens have wilted.  Put the contents of the pot into a blender or food processor, and whirl for about a minute until everything is nicely pureed.

Use the original pot to heat up some oil, cumin seeds, and a mixture of curry-style spices (cumin, corriander, tumeric, cayenne).  Let spices sizzle (about a minute) and then add the pureed greens.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Heat through (about 2 minutes).  Ta-da!!  You’ve got a fabulously yummy, nutritious meal fit for company or for solitary consumption.

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TURNIP GREEN DIP

1 cup onion, chopped;

2  tablespoons  butter, melted;

1/4 cup dry white wine;

20 ounces turnip greens, they can be frozen;

1 pound cream cheese, softened;

8 ounces sour cream;

3/4 cup milk;

1 teaspoon tabasco sauce;

1/4 teaspoon salt

Saute onion in butter until tender.  Stir in wine and simmer about 2 minutes.  Stir in turnip greens and remaining ingredients and cook over medium head until thoroughly heated.  Be sure to stir occasionally. Transfer to a chafing dish and keep warm.

Serve with toasted baguette slices or some other toasted “hearty” bread that will stand up to dipping.

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Excellent Spinach or Zucchini Casserole

1 ½ lbs zucchini or spinach,

4 eggs,

½ c milk,

1 lb jack cheese,

1 ts salt,

2 tbsp baking powder,

3 tbsp flour,

½ c bread crumbs.

Wash and cut zucchini into ½” slices or chop spinach. Cook in minimum water until tender (5 minutes). Drain and cool. Beat eggs slightly and add milk, grated cheese, salt and baking powder.

Stir in zucchini or spinach into egg mix and place in buttered 2 qt casserole dish. Cover casserole with bread crumbs for a nice crusty top. Bake at 350 F for 35-40 minutes. Try with eggplant aswell and other veggies. Delicious!

Bangla Style Stir Fried Greens

One lb leafy greens (endive, dandelion, chard, spinach, bok choi, etc.), 3 tbsp Veg. Oil.

Scant l/4 tsp black mustard, cumin, fennel, fenugreek and nigella seed, ground.

l/4 tsp cayenne, 2 tsp. Minced garlic, l l/2 chopped onion, l/2 tsp sugar, and l tsp salt.

Heat oil, add spices, then garlic – 10 seconds. Add onions. cook 10 minutes on medium. Change heat to high. Add greens, 1 – 5 minutes, then cover and cook 1 minute more to steam. Serve with rice or other dishes. The recipe comes from Emily Sokowe, Co-Owner, Georgetown Bakery with Stephen Lewis. It   was originally printed in the Farm Notes, September, 2005. Emily writes: I  can also do this with pea shoots.

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JAMIE’S RECIPE FOR GREENS.
Stove Top: Collards or Kale.
From: Jamie Parsons/ Veggie-Coop Member August, 2012

Here is a great recipe for Kale or Collards. It is from the cookbook “How To Cook Everything” by Mark Bittman.

2 TBSP of Olive Oil
2 or 3 cloves of garlic minced
1 of collars or kale – washed and chopped
1 / 4 cup of chicken stock
3 TBSP of Tahaini
Salt and pepper to taste
2 TBSP of Lemon Juice

Heat Olive oil in pan; add garlic until tender and golden but not brown. Add collars or kale, stock, tahini, salt and pepper. Cook covered for about 5 minutes.

Remove lid and reduce heat… adding more stock if it looks dry. Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Serve.

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How Schav came to be in my Life!

We first experienced this recipe when we visited Mike’s aunts in New York, soon after we were married. They were spinsters who lived across the street from Mike and his parents, from the time he was born to when he left for University.  He spent more time going on outings with them  than his parents until he got old enough to play golf with his mom and Dad. His aunts took him to  – Yankee games, Coney Island, Bronx Zoo, Central Park, played ball with him in the back yard, tennis with him and probably taught him how to row a boat at a family camp they all went to in the Catskills.  We were married on a Monday at the end of August, 1965 after Mike finished his doctoral program at the University of Iowa and left the next day to drive to Seattle so he could begin work the first of September at the University of Washington. The following August, when we went to the Bronx to meet his family for the first time, we stayed at the home of  Aunt Esther and Aunt Suchie (Sarah), his father’s sisters. Everyone was surprised and interested in meeting the shiksa. Yes, we did elope, sort of,  in that, there was no big family wedding – only a Justice of the Peace. At the “reception” in New York, Aunt Esther served liver pate’ which was delicious. When I asked for the recipe, it turned out to be made of green beans, garlic, onions and walnuts. It was a perfect appetizer for people who grew up with liver pate’. I have use the recipe for years for  end-of-season beans, mixing all varieties together.  I use pecans instead of walnuts. The second recipe from Aunt Esther is Cold Schav which she made with spinach and sour cream. This recipe is from The Art of Jewish Cooking. By Jennie Grossing, Bantam books, 1960.

Cold Schav 

1 pound schav (sour grass), washed and shredded

2 onions, minced

2 quarts water or half and half/ chicken broth and water

2 teaspoons salt

1 tables spoons lemon juice

4 tablespoons sugar

2 eggs

1 cup sour cream

Combine the schav, onions water and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook over low heat 45 minutes. Add the lemon juice and sugar. Cook 10 minutes longer and taste to correct Seasoning.

Beat the eggs in a bowl. Gradually add the soup, stirring steadily to prevent curdling. Chill. Garnish with the sour cream. Makes about l and a half quarts.  At the farm, we serve Schav for lunch as a drink or soup with home made bread and a salad.

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Francois’ Green Pasta

Submitted by 2015 Veggie Coop member, who said “…we prepared a lovely pasta dish tonight using your green onions, spinach and garlic spares.  it was delish!”

Ingredients:
200 gm          Pasta (long pasta of your choice)
1 bunch          Garlic Spares
4 cups            Spinach (Organic farm bag – could replace with Kale or Chard leaves)
1                      Green Onion, finely chopped
1 handful       Pine Nuts (gently roasted or leave as is)
1 Tbsp             Red wine vinegar (homemade)
½ Tsp             Chili Flakes (we used Yunnan spice which is milder than chilli flakes)
50 gm             Parmesan (1/2 grated and ½ shaved)
2 Tbsp            Olive Oil

1.     In a large stockpot, boil water (enough for pasta), salt to taste. Once the water is boiling, blanche the garlic spares until tender.  While retaining water, remove spares and set spares aside to cool.

2.     Bring the water back to boil, add spinach leaves, submerge completely and remove from water with slotted spoon, while retaining water.  Strain spinach to remove excess water. Set spinach aside.

3.     Bring the water back to boil, add pasta and cook according to package instructions (suggest 2 minutes less than packaged timing).  Reserve 2 cups of the water and drain the pasta. Set pasta aside.

4.     Meanwhile finely chop the garlic spaces.

5.     Roll the spinach into a ball, and cut the spinach into chunks.

6.     Very gently heat the oil in a large pan (sauté/ frying pan), add chilli flakes, garlic spares, and green onions.  Sauté for 2-3 minutes or until fragrant.  Once it is bubbling nicely, de-glace with red wine vinegar.  Turn off heat and let rest for 5 minutes.

7.     Add spinach and pine nuts to garlic and onion mixture. Re-heat on medium high.  (If mixture feels dry, add some water reserved from pasta).

8.     Add pasta to entire mixture and mix thoroughly.  (Again, if mixture feels dry, add some water reserved from pasta).

9.     Add pepper to taste.

Serve in pasta bowls with grated or shaved Parmesan.  Bon appetit.

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Dandelion Jelly Recipe

  • Modified from https://thehomestead.guru/dandelion-jelly/

INGREDIENTS:
4 Cups Dandelion Petals
3 Cups Dandelion Liquid
4 1/2 Cups of Sugar
2 TBS of Lemon Juice
1 Box of Powdered Pectin

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. After removing dandelion petals, place in a bowl and cover them with boiling water. Cover the mixture and let it sit overnight on the counter.
2. Strain the petals out of the liquid, then strain through a jelly bag or coffee filter.
3. Place dandelion liquid, lemon juice and one box of powdered pectin into a large saucepan. Bring to a boil.
4. Add sugar. stirring constantly, bring the mixture back to a boil and continue boiling and stirring for two minutes. Remove from heat and skim off foam.
5. Place into jars leaving 1/4 inch head space and process for ten minutes.

NOTES ON CANNING:

A water bath canner or pressure canner isn’t necessary.

Wash jars in hot soapy water and rinse. Place mouth up on a baking tray in a 200 degree oven for 15 minutes. Turn off and leave to cool slightly.
Pour boiling water over rings and lids and keep warm on stove.

When ready to pour jelly into jars, take out lids and rings from water onto paper towel to dry off.

After jelly is poured into jars, place lids and rings on the jars. The heat from the jelly will seal the jars as they cool (usually within an hour). If you check back in a few hours and there are jars that haven’t popped, those can be the refrigerated and must be consumed right away.

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