I've had a running experiment going on to see how long my farmer's market produce would last when I keep them in those green bags you see in the produce section. It turns out kale and beet greens hold up quite well in the green bag. Normally they would have wilted and been in need of cooking by the third day in the icebox, but they lasted a good 9-10 days in the green bag without wilting. By last Sunday though, their wilting had called for a short bath in water with a splash of vinegar, which I read somewheres helps the water flow back into leafy vegetables and gives them another day or so before having to been finally tossed away.
Sunday was a lazy day of reading and print mounting, so I wasn't in for anything elaborate concerning these green, so K.I.S.S. it was: keep it simple stupid.
Half a head of minced garlic and four small chopped dried cayenne chilis went into a quarter cup of oil to flavor for about a minute. Then in go the "reconstituted" greens, two cups of prepared Better Than Bouillon and a light sprinkling of salt and pepper.
When it comes to cooking greens, a lot of recipes call for cooking the hell out of them at a simmer for an hour. I've had barbecue joint greens that are heavily flavored with ham hocks or bacon that make up for the paste-like texture and the unappetizing grey color. I never cook them for this long myself due to one hour results, so I keep it to a limit of 30 minutes.
Otherwise they wouldn't turn out like this.
Blurry and tender yet still with something substantial to masticate, but more significantly, they remain a pleasant green. If I were to simply prepare greens like this again, I'd probably cut back a chili or two. For now, it was a bit spicy with a strong garlic flavor, so it was just o-kale.
4 comments:
Sounds good, and I like the reconstitution tip! I've been making baked kale chips, they are really tasty!!
With the reconstitution, it doesn't always work with really old greens. If they are too old, it leaves that weird fine gritty film on your teeth that you get from eating old spinach.
I gotta try out making kale chips. I read a few recipes on it but was skeptical.
Swing by Saudi and cook stuff. I miss your cooking.
The word verification is "hempines" so if you come by, I'll buy you some hempines.
Kale chips are outstanding! Stan is not a kale fan and even he likes them! They get crispy and take on a really nice caramel flavor, I'm making myself hungry now! And oh yea, those green bags really work! We bought some and I'm always pissed when something goes bad cuz I forgot to use them!
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