Greens and Rice

There is nothing better than looking in the fridge and seeing a container of cooked brown rice. Stirred up with some greens, it makes an easy dish for dinner.

The other day I cooked up a bunch of purple mustard greens along with the greens from a bunch of red radishes, then stirred in some cooked brown rice to dampen the heat a little.

It's a simple technique that can work for any cooked grain and any greens you have in your fridge.

Greens and Rice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, diced
1 clove garlic
1 bunch purple mustard greens
greens from 1 bunch red radishes
2 cups cooked brown rice

Warm the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sauté the onion and garlic until tender, about 3 minutes.

Wash the greens and cut into one-inch strips. Add to the pan, sprinkle on some salt, stir well and cover the pan. Let cook 5-10 minutes until the greens are soft and tender. (The time will depend on the type of green you are using.) Stir in the brown rice, cover and cook until the rice is hot and the flavors are blended.

Season with salt and pepper, lemon juice or hot sauce to taste.

Serves 2-3

Preparing for the holidays

Most people prepare for Thanksgiving by brining turkey or making pies.

This year, I prepared by making Green Soup.

Holiday food is higher in fat and sugar than our regular daily fare, but it wouldn't be a holiday without butter and whipped cream and dessert. So Green Soup is our preventative medicine. We ate it last night, we'll eat it again next weekend, and I froze some to eat over the Christmas holiday too - in between the feasting.

Green Soup is a nutrition powerhouse - loads of liver support, blood support, bone support - you name it. Just what a body needs to feel strong enough to withstand the food assault of the holiday season.

After we ate the Green Soup last night, Larry thanked me for making it. It's not his favorite food - one bowl is enough - but he can feel the goodness while he's eating it.

The first time you serve Green Soup to your family, serve it in small bowls before the main course. And use greens you know your family likes, like chard or spinach or collard greens. A combination is nice. And of course, dandelion greens and nettles add to the mineral load, so add them if you think your family will handle it.

This is the recipe I made yesterday. It's unlikely you'll be lucky enough to have the diversity of greens I did, so use what you have. Use mild greens like collards and spinach to tone down the spicier mustard and turnip greens. (See my recipe for Radish Green Soup for another version.)

This recipe makes a large pot - make a half recipe the first time.

Looks like green goop. Tastes delicious. And your body will thank you for it.

Green Soup
3/4 lb potatoes

1 bunch turnip greens

1 bunch mustard greens

1 bunch collard greens

1 bunch nettles

1/2 large onion (1 cup diced)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 bulb fennel
1 clove garlic
1 cup vegetable stock
1 cup water


Peel and dice the potatoes. Boil in salted water until tender. Drain.

Gently rinse the nettles in cold water. Be careful touching them because they can sting. Remove the toughest stems, then cook them in a little water until they are very soft. Purée them with extra water if necessary - they make a wonderfully vibrant green liquid - and set aside.

Wash the other greens well. Chop them (including the stems), and set to one side.

Sauté the onion in olive oil until tender. Cut the stems off the fennel. Quarter the bulb and remove the core. Dice the remaining bulb and add it to the pot along with the chopped garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the fennel is soft.

Add the stock and water. Add handfuls of greens, stirring them and sprinkling with a little salt. When all the greens are in, cover the pot and let them simmer until they are very soft.

Let cool a little. Stir in the potatoes, then purée in batches in a blender or food processor. Make sure it's really smooth. Add extra water if necessary to make it soupy.

Return to a clean pot, reheat gently, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

A little lime juice or lemon juice or apple cider vinegar added at the end will brighten the flavor. Or serve lemon wedges on the side.

Makes 8-10 cups of soup.

Purple Mustard Greens

Purple mustard greens are back at the Hollywood Farmers Market!

I don't know what it is about these greens, but just the sight of them makes me happy.

(Mustard greens are a cruciferous vegetable, and so have the the anti-cancer benefits of this whole group of cabbage-like veg. But I think it's the purple color that makes me smile.)

I cooked up a big bunch of them the other night. It always amazes me how a big pot of greens shrinks down to almost nothing.

I sautéed half an onion in a tablespoon of olive oil until tender. I stirred in a few chile flakes, and then added the chopped mustard greens, still damp from the water I washed them in. I sprinkled some salt over the top, and then stirred the greens top to bottom to make sure all the leaves were covered with oil and salt which helps them wilt down more quickly.

I covered the pot and let them cook, stirring once or twice, for 10 minutes until they were very soft and tender. I turned off the heat and let them sit until the rest of the meal was cooked.

They were a great addition to a meal of farro and butternut squash, Mexican beans, fried cipollini onions, and a celeriac and beet salad.

Comfort Food

Sometimes I just want a bowl of delicious goodness.

That's when I turn to this simple yet soul-satisfying dish.

White beans cooked with garlic, steamed greens, and a drizzle of fruity olive oil. It's a wonderful combination of flavors and soothing textures.

If you haven't cooked dried beans before, this is the recipe to start with. If you're not sure how fresh your beans are, start it early in the day. Cook until the beans are soft, then turn off the heat and let them sit on the stove until you start the greens, about 15 minutes before you're ready to eat. Reheat and serve.

If you want to use canned beans, use 2 14-oz cans. Drain off the can juice and reheat them with some vegetable stock or water along with the seasonings. It won't be quite as delicious (or cheap) but it will be good.

For the greens, I was lucky enough to get rapini and lamb's quarters from the Flora Bella stand at the Hollywood Farmers Market. You can use spinach, dandelions, chard, turnip greens, beet greens, whatever you have. If you're not used to bitter greens like dandelion, add some sweet greens like chard and spinach to tone it down. (The bitter greens are excellent for the liver, so try to use some of them.)

In the past, I have only made this recipe when Larry was out of town. I believed he would not like it. But I was wrong. I cooked it last week when I was craving some good greens, and he said he really liked it. And he ate it as leftovers too, so I believe him.

Italian Greens and Beans
1 lb white beans
1 red chile, dried or fresh
3 bay leaves
3 cloves garlic
salt and pepper
1 lb greens (or 2 bunches)
olive oil

Sort the beans and discard any dirt or stones. Rinse them and put them in a large pot with the chile and bay leaves. Peel the garlic and throw it in too. Add boiling water from the kettle to cover by 2 inches. (Use cold tap water if you don't have enough boiling.) Bring to the boil and cook, covered, until the beans are tender. I used white lima beans from Lompoc, probably harvested this year, so they only took 90 minutes to cook. Yours might take up to 4 hours. Plan accordingly. And remember, it's better to cook them early and let them sit than it is to serve crunchy beans.

(Concerned about the gassy qualities of beans? The garlic helps eliminate them.)

Wash the greens well. (In this era of plastic mulch and drip irrigation, the greens might be clean. But if it's rained they can be quite muddy. Swish them in basins of cold water until no dirt is left in the bottom.) Put them in a large pot with an inch of boiling water in the bottom. Let them cook until the stems are tender, about 5 minutes. Drain them and chop into bite-sized pieces.

Taste the beans and add salt and pepper to enhance the flavor.

Using a slotted spoon, put some beans into a shallow soup bowl. Add a little of the bean juice. Spoon some greens on top. Drizzle with a little olive oil. And enjoy.

Serves 6. (But is great reheated the next day)

Mustard Greens

Mustard greens have a zest that pairs well with creamy dishes. I served them at Thanksgiving with scalloped potatoes and barbecue beans, and they added color and texture, as well as health-promoting nutrients.

Mustard greens are cruciferous vegetables, so they have the same health benefits as broccoli and cabbage. They are high in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, which makes them a great cancer preventative. Plus they're an excellent source of folic acid.

Usually I buy purple mustard greens, but I could only find the green curly kind at the market. They turned out great in this incredibly simple recipe.

Wilted Mustard Greens
1 bunch green or purple mustard greens
1 small clove garlic
3/4 tbsp butter
salt and pepper

Wash the greens, discarding any yellow leaves and chopping the brown bottom off the stems. Cook the greens in boiling salted water until they are wilted and the stems are tender, 5-8 minutes. Put them into cold water to stop the cooking, then drain them and squeeze out the extra moisture. Coarsely chop the leaves. At this point, you can set them aside at cool room temperature for a few hours before finishing the recipe.

Melt butter in sauté pan over moderately low heat. Peel and chop the garlic and cook it in the butter about 2 minutes until it is softened. Add the greens, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 5 minutes.

Serves 3-4

Vegetable Sides Day Three

Tonight as sides we had a creamy potato-celeriac gratin and some spicy mustard greens to balance the richness.

Celeriac is a brown lumpy hairy root from a kind of celery that looks like the regular kind, but the stalks are more fibrous and better suited to the stock pot than the lunch box. I bought it at Finley Farms with the stalks attached. You will most likely find it without the stems at the grocery store. It tastes similar to celery, but earthier.

Don't bother trying to scrub it. Just pare off all the hairy and brown parts, down to the white part within. I sliced it thinly and put a layer of it in the center of a potato gratin. It was delicious. If you have a potato gratin recipe you like, I recommend you do the same thing. The celeriac has a similar texture to the potato, and adds a savory flavor. I would share my recipe with you, but I added too much liquid so it was too saucy. We had to spoon the potatoes and celeriac out of the sauce. They tasted good, so I'll mash the leftovers into a creamy dish later in the week.

Celeriac is a good source of the soluble fiber that helps lower cholesterol. Mustard greens are high in antioxidants and are powerful anti-inflammatories.

I wanted the mustard greens to hold their zip so I cooked them quickly with garlic and chiles. I cut out the stems, washed the leaves, and cut them in 1" ribbons. I put a scant tablespoon of olive oil in a warm pan, and when it rippled I added a cup of chopped onion. When it had softened, I stirred in a chopped clove of garlic and a sprinkling of crushed chiles. After a minute or so I added the mustard greens and a splash of water, stirred well, and covered the pot. I stirred after 5 minutes, and kept cooking, covered, until slightly browned, less than 10 minutes total.

With two interesting side dishes like this, the main dish becomes the side note.

Mustard Greens

When I was in Montreal in December, I ventured into my mother's snowy garden to pick the last mustard greens of the year. I sautéed them with garlic and red chiles and served them as a spicy side to a dish of potatoes.

Here in my LA garden, the mustard greens are not quite big enough to harvest, so I've been buying them from South Central Farmers Cooperative at the Hollywood Farmers Market. There are so many greens available in the winter months, it's hard to choose, but mustard greens might be my favorite.

Last week, I stirred up another batch and served them with wheat berries and quinoa - they added robust flavor to a healthy meal.

Mustard Greens
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp dried red chile flakes
1 bunch mustard greens

Heat a scant 2 tbsp olive oil, garlic and chile flakes in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Wash the mustard greens and chop them coarsely. Add to the skillet along with the water still clinging to the leaves. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Then lower the heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until wilted and softened, about 5 minutes more.

Serves 2-3