Greens, specifically purple kale and beet greens, sauteed with garlic

greens, kale, purple kale, beet greens, garlic, sautee
There are many ways to prepare sauteed greens and many of them are terrific. When I am tired and just want to get some food on the table, this preparation is for me the no brainer. But I will say that you have to keep in mind, there are many different greens out there and they vary in consistency. Some of them can be washed and sauteed, some need blanching and then sauteeing or other method of cooking. When I am at the Rhinebeck Farmer’s Market, I tend to pick whatever looks best to me at the moment. Sometimes, I have never heard or cooked with that particular variety before.

I needed to use up the beet greens fast, but there were not enough to make a good side dish. So I combined them with the left over purple kale from the pasta dish published earlier. I think one of my major cooking breakthroughs happened with I figured out that I could cook the kale for a while and then add the beet greens and they’d come out each cooked the right amount. I think that breakthrough happened when I was cooking different root vegetables for a mashed dish.

Method:

  • Clean your greens and strip them of all really tough parts
  • Boil water, add hefty amount of salt
  • If you are using the stems, add those first
  • After 6 minutes, add the leaves
  • Let it come back to a boil
  • After 3 minutes, add the beet greens
  • Let it come back to a boil
  • Drain
  • Let cook
  • Squeeze out excess water
  • Chop up into little pieces

In a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat, sautee a couple of cloves of garlic in olive oil for about 1 minute. Add the greens and salt and pepper. I add some red pepper flakes. Taste. Maybe add a little liquid to continue the cooking and tenderize. Add a little but of Vermouth or white wine. Or add a little vinegar or spicy vinegar if you want it to be spicier. It is done when you taste it and it tastes good.

By all means, do not brown or burn the garlic. It is horrible then. I did that the other night to the broccoli rabe and it was really terrible tasting. I seem to have a bad time with broccoli rabe though, it is like a predisposed inability to focus on it when it is cooking. And I love the stuff. This method works really well for broccoli rabe… if you’re not me.