Easy Sauteed Greens That Go With Everything
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Greens were a mystery to me until I got a job selling vegetables at the Chino Farms stand in San Diego County. Often after a weekend shift, the Chinos would invite me to their home kitchen behind the stand for lunch. One winter day, Kay Chino, sadly now gone, had made, among a host of other vegetable preparations and two rice cookers full of rice (one white, one brown), a giant pot of stewed greens. Until then, I’d never bought a bunch of any kind of greens — kale, chard, collard or mustard greens — because I would not have had the first idea what to do with them. Well, Kay showed me what to do. She started with a base of onions, garlic and lots of olive oil. Into that, she added the greens a handful at a time, folding them in to make room for more. Kay cooked the greens for about an hour (I cook mine for less time) and added spinach right at the end. That’s what I do too. Kay added homemade chicken broth to “buy” time as she cooked them. I sometimes make mine with chicken broth (only if I have homemade on hand) and sometimes with plain old water.
There are so many ways to enjoy the greens. Obviously, they make a delicious side dish on their own. You can finely chop them and toss them with pasta — and crumbled Italian sausage, if that’s your thing. (It’s mine.) Chop the cooked greens and scramble them with eggs, use them to fill an omelet, or stir them into a bowl of lentils or another bean soup. Make them the main event in a Meatless Monday taco (along with queso fresco) or spread them across a tortilla and top with melty cheese to make a quesadilla. Serve a mound of the greens with a fried egg on top, in a grain bowl or as a bed for baked or pan-seared fish. Shall I go on?
Feel free to mix up the greens or use just one kind.
Leafy greens like chard, collards and kale deserve more attention: They’re inexpensive, healthy and at peak flavor in winter.
While the greens are still tied in bunches, cut the last inch or more from the stems and discard the trimmed ends. Pull the leaves from the stems; set the leaves aside and chop the stems into 1/4-inch pieces.
Combine ¼ cup of the oil, onion and stems in a large pot. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt and sauté over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until the onion and stems are tender, stirring often so they don’t brown. Add the garlic and the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sauté about 2 minutes, stirring constantly so it doesn’t brown.
Add about one quarter of the greens, tearing them into roughly 2-inch pieces directly into the pot and folding them in with the onions as you add them so they begin to wilt and make room in the pan before you add more. Add the stock or water as you go, along with the remaining greens, folding the raw greens that are on the top into the cooked greens underneath, until all the greens fit in the pot. Once all the greens have been added and folded in, cook them for about 20 minutes, until they are tender and the liquid in the pot is cooked off. Add the spinach and fold it in until it’s wilted. Turn off the heat and add more salt to taste.
