Mess O’ Greens
June 3rd, 2009 · 2 Comments · Posted in breakfast, garden
Greens braised with red onion
This is high season for greens. The very early varieties–spinach, mizuna, arugula–have faded from the scene. They were already flowering, trying to make seed. Out they go to make room for something else. But now we have lovely beds crammed with mustard greens and collards. I like to braise them in a heavy pot with sauteed onion, in this case red onion because that’s what we had. Add a half-cup of water, a good splash of cider vinegar. Cover and cook over low heat for a half-hour or more, until the greens are very tender.
I eat them for breakfast, smothered with fried eggs.
Mustard and collard greens in the garden
Here they are in the garden: Georgia collards on the left, Pink Lettucy mustard in the middle and Ragged Edge mustard on the right. I use the lazy gardener’s method of planting. Just work a light dusting of compost into the soil. Then scatter the seed and rub it in lightly with the palm of your hand.
You will get a thick patch of greens using this method. I’m not sure the plants even grow to full size. they are in such tight quarters. But they do a good job of shading out weeds; I don’t need to mulch them. And when it comes time to harvest, it’s a simple matter to grab a handful and snip them off with a pair of scissors.
I plant a lot of them. They cook down to almost nothing on the stove.
Mmm. Just what we needed, after getting our first, lovely, CSA box of the year yesterday, full of greens!
Parke, this certainly is the time of year for greens. In fact, some CSA subscribers get discouraged–weeks and weeks of greens before they see the first tomatoes or cucumbers. We used to subscribe to a winter CSA that was all about greens. My wife got tired of it. It can be daunting. I finally developed a routine where I would simply cook all of the greens in salted water, then used them in different ways throughout the week. The treatment I describe here also works with a strip or two of bacon in the pot. But I think I know how you feel about that. If you are eating grains, a wedge of corn bread would be perfect.