How to Cook Greens Like a Farmer – The Organic Life

• IMG_0382 Home > Blog > How to Cook Greens Like a Farmer How to Cook Greens Like a Farmer Tweet Okay, so you’ve been getting into good food or have always been into eating healthfully and well, but are a little bit confused about cooking greens. I’m here to help.First, what do I mean by greens? You’d think from marketing today that lacinato kale was the only green leafy veggie available for purchase, but I can assure you, the palate of greens is so much wider, more diverse and more interesting than that. Believe me, I have nothing but love for kale (you could even try other types, like Red Russian or Siberian), but what about chard, collards, turnip greens, mustard greens, or dandelion greens? I just listed those greens (more or less) from least to most bitter. Bitterness in your choice of green is a very important element in thinking about how you want to cook it. Maybe if you’re not someone who loves very hoppy beers or very bitter coffee then you might prefer sweetening your dandelion greens a fair bit. However you feel about bitterness, there is a green for you. Here is a simple framework for cooking greens. As a farmer and cook, my necessary tastes when cookinggreens are sweet, salty, sour, bitter. Sound familiar? This full use of your taste buds is what can make greens such a satisfying addition to any meal (the addition of soy or mushrooms could even get you that umami action, but let’s not get carried away for now). Here’s how we achieve those flavors: – Choose a leafy green from the list above, or another one that you’ve discovered. – Choose a member of the allium family (onion, leek, shallot, garlic, or the green, i.e., immature version of any of these). – Choose a sour. Here are some vinegar suggestions: balsalmic –> lacinato kale apple cider –> collards red wine –> chard rice wine –> dandelions, turnip greens, mustard greens – Choose something sweet. Honey is great, maple syrup or brown sugar are also good. You can also avoid the added sugar by using more onion and caramelizing it first to draw out the sweetness there. – Choose your salt. This could be as simple as salt. Soy sauce or tamari, hot pepper sauce are also great. Now you can play around with these combinations. Some ingredients (like OJ) serve two of these purposes at once (sweet and sour). When you go to cook your greens, I recommend first destemming them, washing them and chopping them up as course or fine as you like. Heat a frying pan on medium, add oil, then add the chopped/diced/minced allium. Give it a few minutes. This is a great opportunity to add powdered spices that can give you a little boost, but let’s just keep it simple. Also a good time to add salt (not soy though…yet). Once you’re happy with that, throw in your greens. They’ll be wet probably and you’ll make a bunch of splattering sounds and you’ll wonder how you could possibly fit so much into such a small pan, but just relax. Do it a bit at a time if you have to, stirring to keep it from burning and to incorporate the onions and oil into the greens. When everything is in there and wilted a bit you can add your sweet and sour. At this point mix it all up and cook it for as long as it needs. Turnip greens or dandelions are delicate and might only need a minute or two. Chard is a bit tougher, then the kales, and collards are quite thick. This part is all about how you like it. Collards that have been boiled for over an hour with meat bones and/or stock are intensely good, but you can have perfectly fine collards in 15 minutes or so if you cover them. It’s all about experimenting and finding what taste combinations and greens you like best. Leave a Reply Leave a Reply Cancel reply You must be logged in to post a comment. Buy the Film Now! DVD
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