Get your Greens

Get Your Greens

There was a deal at Loblaws for 3 kinds of greens for $5 so I decided to Go Green and save some $$ for the New Year. I picked up a bunch of Collard Greens, Kale and Some Beets. Beets aren't technically green but there are greens attached to them so I suppose they fit in the green category.

Greens... you don't eat them because:

A. You don't like the taste
B. You don't know what to do with them
C. They take too much work to cook.

and then there is the storage of them. They take up a lot of room in your fridge so I have a couple of tips for you.

Greens are loaded with water and when cooked melt down to a third of the size but they also come with stems that are generally tough so most of the time get discarded.

So why not prep your greens when you bring them home from the store.

Cut the tough centre stems away and chop the pieces into manageable bite size pieces and then just put them into either Ziplock bags or glass storage containers. I prefer glass containers but you can use plastic to store but just don't cook in them.

Don't wash the greens before you store them so that they don't get soggy.

You can even split them up into individual portions so you can just grab a bag to cook when you need it. Prep once and have it ready to go for multiple meals.

Here's what I did with my 3 greens.

1. Cut the stems off the Kale and chopped it up and stored it in a ziplock bag and put it in the fridge for later cooking.

2. I cut the beets off the beet green stems and took the tops off and rinsed them and roasted them in the oven for about an Hour wrapped in tin foil with a dash of olive oil. After they cooled slightly I broke out the rubber gloves and peeled them and cut them into slices and then put them in a jar with a pickling liquid of boiled water, sugar and vinegar to keep in the fridge for the week.

3. Then I prepped the Collard Greens and added chopped bacon to a dutch oven to crisp up and then added diced onions and sweated them off before adding the rinsed and Chopped Collard Greens. The moisture from the water will steam the greens when you cook them. Add salt and pepper to taste and I added some chili flakes. You can add nutmeg and other seasonings if you like. Close to the end I added 2 different vinegars, sherry vinegar and cider vinegar. They both have distinct tastes and enhance the flavour of the greens and break down the bitterness. You can squeeze in lemon or add white wine for flavour too. I added a nob of butter at the end for a bit of creaminess.

and here you have it.... Beets and Collard Greens: