Greens

I have to admit, my body definitely craves food ‘by the seasons’.  When fall is coming, I can tell it’s time for warm soups.  Maybe winter squash or tomato corn soup.  Wintertime comes, and my menu is full of hearty potato stews, fish chowders, meat or vegetable casseroles all warm and bubbly with crusty breads or cornbread.  But late in the cold season, it seems my body is craving a taste of something so fresh, delicious, nutritious, and GREEN?  My appetite is for GREENS!

I love greens.  Greens provide nutrients like Vitamin A, C, K and lots of cancer-fighting and cholesterol-lowering properties.  My garden may boast a variety of at least a dozen greens at any given time.  Lettuces of course, are the greens most people think of, along with spinach.  But there are so many more varieties of greens, and lettuce is just the beginning! Greens like kale, collard, turnip, and mustard are well known staples. Local favorites like mache (corn salad) or creasy greens may grace the farmer’s markets for a short time.  There is a wide variety of vegetables that you may not consider to have edible greens, but they are delicious as well as being as much or more nutritious than the usual harvest; Brussels Sprouts, broccoli leaves, cauliflower leaves, rutabaga and kohlrabi leaves, radishes including Daikon radishes, Gai Lan (Chinese broccoli), garlic and onions all produce a ‘second crop’ of delicious edible greens.

Daikons will even produce an edible seed pod that is absolutely delicious when sautéed with onions and radishes.  And for a survival food, very young tender sugar snap pea leaves and sweet potato leaves are more nutritious than either the peas or potatoes themselves.  Let the plants grow until they have a second set of leaves, then selectively pluck a leaf here or there among the peas for a second harvest from these plants!  You can continue to pick the young tender green leaves until fall and the plant begins to fade away, ready for harvesting.

As well as eating them fresh, greens can also be dehydrated when a bumper crop comes in, and added to stews and soups in winter or powdered as a base for homemade seasonings with herbs.  Pick fresh leaves after the dew has dried, wash greens in cold water and let dry, then coarsely chop and spread on dehydrator trays.  Stems will be woody and ‘twiggy’ when dehydrated, so remove those (chop fresh stems to add to a sauté like asparagus!).

Greens are a cool crop and are very easy to grow, require little care, and can be grown in winter in much of the US.  Greens do very well in cold frames, even in the snow.  In warmer climates, you can extend this cool weather crop by planting in shady places against buildings as landscape bedding or under a tree.  Be sure to mix in some of the root crop varieties for a double harvest.

Collards, the staple of New Year’s Day meals with Southern Black Eyes and pork, are easy to prepare.  Overcooking is the biggest concern most cooks have.  Collards can emit a sulfur smell when overcooked, in addition to losing flavor and nutrients.  My favorite way to fix any greens is to sauté with a little bacon fat in a cast iron skillet and then simmer in bone broth for fifteen minutes until tender and the color changes.  Any seasonings you like can be added; salt and pepper of course, turmeric, cumin, and oregano are my favorites.  I always sauté a big pan full so I have leftovers for several meals that are quick and easy.

Here’s my current favorite recipe, hope you enjoy!

Collard and Mushroom Frittata

1-2 tablespoons bacon drippings, palm kernel oil, or coconut oil
1 cup cooked greens; collard, daikon greens, spinach, mustard (your choice)
½ cup chopped fresh mushrooms
¼ cup chopped onion
2 eggs, whipped in a bowl with a few tablespoons of chicken bone broth instead of milk
A few tablespoons shredded cheese and crumbled bacon, if desired
Any spices you like with eggs; salsa, turmeric, salt and pepper, oregano, cumin, kelp seasoning, hot sauce, etc

Melt oil or bacon drippings in a cast iron skillet.
Saute onion and mushrooms for two minutes until tender.
Add cooked greens, stir to coat with the oil.
Turn heat down slightly and pour whipped eggs into the pan over the greens, mushrooms and onions.  Eggs will begin to set in the pan, watch to make sure they don’t burn, two minutes.  Flip eggs to cook the other side.  Top with cheese and crumbled bacon, if desired.
Slide eggs onto a plate, garnish with seasonings and salsa.

Enjoy!

~ Suzanne