Greens with Envy

As I’ve mentioned before, I started out my summer with very little knowledge of greens. Had you asked me to name you some greens I probably would have looked at you cross-eyed and said “um, lettuce?” Sure, lettuce is green, but the category goes far beyond that. Thanks to my farm share me and greens are becoming very well acquainted. So are me and my wok.

"So what ARE greens?" you ask. They are big leafy green plants that taste delicious! Lucky for me, the farm that I chose to do my farm share with here in Massachusetts is well-versed in growing greens and I get plenty of them each week in my share.

Here are a few of the things I’ve been cooking with. Wikipedia definitions to the rescue:

Chard: Also known by the common names Swiss Chard, Silverbeet, Perpetual Spinach, Spinach Beet, Crab Beet, Seakale Beet and Mangold, is a leafy vegetable, and is one of the cultivated descendants of the sea beet. Although the leaves are eaten, it is in the same species as beetroot (garden beet) which is usually grown primarily for its edible roots.

Kale or borecole is a form of cabbage, green or purple, in which the central leaves do not form a head. It is considered to be closer to wild cabbage than most domesticated forms. The species Brassica oleracea contains a wide array of vegetables including broccoli, cauliflower, collard greens, and brussels sprouts.

Collard greens are various loose-leafed cultivars of Brassica oleracea, the same species that produces cabbage and broccoli. The plant is grown for its large, dark-colored, edible leaves and as a garden ornamental, mainly in Brazil, Portugal, the Southern United States, many parts of Africa, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain and in Kashmir.

Callaloo: Jamaican callaloo is a Jamaican vegetable that resembles spinach. Though it tastes almost like spinach it is not as sour. Jamaican callaloo is though to have its origin in South America however it has been recorded as being in Jamaica from as early as 1752. (From www.getjamaica.com)

Bok Choy is a Chinese leaf vegetable used often in Chinese cuisine. These vegetables are both related to the Western cabbage, and are of the same species as the common turnip.

I like greens for their simplicity and ease of cooking. I’ve cooked up a few different kinds of greens so far and in different ways. I’m finding the best way to start of cooking them is to sauté them in a wok with oil and garlic for a few minutes until they have cooked down (look sort of soft and wilted and not so much like lettuce anymore) and then I add other stuff to the wok.

Lately I’ve tended not to work directly from a recipe when cooking greens, which makes the whole experience a bit of an adventure. Lucky for me, everything has turned out well so far! Things I will throw into the mix include potatoes, onions, tomatoes, spices, turnips, and all sorts of odds and ends that I’m left with from my farm share when the week comes to an end. You can also sautéed everything up and serve as is or add broth and turn the whole thing into soup or sprinkle with cheese and bake in the oven for a bit to make a casserole. Really, the possibilities are endless. Not to mention, if you want to stick to real recipes there are LOADS of great recipes for greens available online which you can always tweak yourself as you see fit.

Some of my favorite creations so far have included:

• An assortment of greens (beet greens and chard) sautéed with turnips (see fourth picture)

• A kale, sausage, and potato soup

• A kale, sausage, and potato casserole (see first picture & fifth picture)

• Bean and Swiss chard soup

Greens on their own (or with a few other veggies and spices added) make a great accompaniment to a meat dish or they go very well with some rice or pasta. Tomorrow I’m going to be making Jamaican style callaloo (see recipe below) and will be serving it with some baked chicken drumsticks and steamed rice.

Cheers!

PS: If you have any greens recipes you would like to share post a comment below!!

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Jamaican Style Sautéed Callaloo (recipe compliments of Enterprise Farm newsletter)

Ingredients --

• 1 bunch callaloo 1 large onion, sliced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, diced 
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1-2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (to taste) 
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme salt and pepper
• 1 large tomato, diced

Directions --

• Cut the bottom 1/2—1 inch off the bottom of the callaloo stems. 
• Peel the remaining stems (as you would with broccoli). 
• Slice everything into small ribbons, wash well and spin dry in a salad spinner. 
• In a large skillet (or wok) heat oil. 
• Add onion and garlic, sautee for 3-4 minutes, until onions are slightly translucent. 
• Add callaloo, season with cayenne, crushed red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and thyme. 
• Allow to wilt. 
• Add tomatoes and cook for 2 more minutes.

Swiss Chard Makes Super Soup

Oh goodness, I’m so cheesy. It must be all the Boston humidity seeping into my brain or the fact that I just spent a good 40 hours straight staring at the computer screen in preparation for my final project in my grad school publishing class. (Yes, I’m aware I should un-glue myself from the computer and go outside and play, but really, I wanted to make this post first.) Dear eyeballs, please forgive me.

In the spirit of continuing my experimental cooking with my farm share vegetables I bring you a fabulous Swiss chard soup that I took liberties with and tweaked a bit. My fridge was filled with an abundance of greens so I to searched around for a soup recipe that used Swiss chard. Swiss chard is really quite pretty, look at that beautiful big leaf over there. Unfortunately, I don’t think any food should be named “chard” as it too closely resembles “charred” which is a characteristic no chef wants their food to have. Oh well, name aside, I am a fan of said veggie.

I found recipe on epicurious called “Beans and Swiss Chard,” which sounded fab. Slight problem though: this recipe was vegetarian and my dining partner is a male who demanded meat. So what’s a girl to do? Tweak time. I bought a pound of chicken drumsticks, seasoned then, and then baked them in the oven for 45 minutes. When they cooled I pulled the succulent meat off of the bone and TADA meat for my soup! Bonus: I was able to do this a few hours before actually making the soup and then stick the chicken in the fridge until I was ready for soup prep.

The recipe I found called for 1 cup of beans but a few reviews from people were saying that they wished they had added extra beans so I decided to really beef it up and buy a can of white beans AND a can of chick pea beans so my soup would be extra bean-y. And that’s where my tweaking ends, from then on out I followed the recipe pretty closely but added some extra broth to accommodate my meat and extra beans.

Oh dear, looking back at my pictures I realize that I lied to you earlier – one more final tweak to the original recipe: I added a handful of grape tomatoes to the pot at the same time that I added the pasta.

This recipe was really great and with my addition of shredded chicken bits it was sort of a unique twist on chicken noodle soup. It was also really tasty the next day, though a bit more like a pasta dish since the little shell noodles soaked up the broth. But still quite delish!

Overall score: 7 out of 10.

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Bean and Swiss Chard Soup compliments of Epicurious and with my own tweaks

Ingredients—

• ½ to 1 pound of cooked chicken (my addition) 
• 1/2 pound (225 g) Swiss chard or kale, trimmed (I used that nice red-stemmed chard) 
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt, plus additional to taste 
• 2 flat anchovy fillets 
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves or dried 
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) olive oil 
• 2 medium garlic cloves, smashed and peeled 
• 1 cup (225 g) cooked small white beans or drained and rinsed canned beans (I used two cans of two different beans to add variety) 
• 4 cups (1 liter) chicken stock [or Garlic Broth for a meatless soup] 
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste 
• 1/2 cup (60 g) small shell macaroni 
• handful of grape tomatoes (my addition) 
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Preparation —

• Season and roast ½ to 1 pound of chicken pieces in the oven until they are done (juice runs clear when poked with a fork.) I cooked mine for approximately 45 minutes.
• In a medium saucepan, cook the chard with 1/2 cup (125 ml) water and the salt over medium heat until tender. Drain the chard, reserving any liquid that remains. Coarsely chop the chard.
• Very finely chop anchovies together with the rosemary. 
• In a medium saucepan, stir together the oil and garlic over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the garlic is pale gold, about 10 minutes. Stir in the anchovies and rosemary. Cook, stirring for 1 minute. Discard the garlic. Stir in the chard and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring to thoroughly coat it with the oil. Stir in the beans. Cook for 3 minutes. 
• Stir in the reserved cooking liquid and the stock. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and stir in the macaroni. Boil for 6 minutes, or until the pasta is tender. Adjust the seasoning, if necessary. 
• Pass Parmesan cheese at the table.