Tuesday
19 June
We had leftover legs, wings, and thighs from last Wednesday's roast chicken, and
also a beautiful bag of greens from the golden beets. Hint: when you get those pretty tubers home (goes for beets,
radishes, turnips, etc.), detach them from their greens and store them
separately; the greens, like lettuce, will keep much better if they're washed,
spun dry, put in a bag with a paper towel, and stored in the crisper in the
fridge.
We went
to the Chez Panisse cookbook to get an interesting recipe for beet greens. Alice Waters serves them as a dressing
for pasta, but they make a fine side dish too.
We used:
2 Tbsp.
raisins (instead of currants)
1 big
bunch beet greens (1/2+ pounds)
3-4
sprigs fresh mint
1/2 a
medium red onion or shallot
1 clove
garlic
1 bay
leaf
extra-virgin
olive oil
Salt and
pepper
Procedure: cover the
raisins with boiling water and let soak for 15 minutes, then drain. While they're
soaking, wash the beet greens, strip the leaves from the stems, and cut the
leaves into chiffonade, and the stems into 2-inch pieces (if desired). Remove the
mint leaves from the stems, wash, and chop them into chiffonade too. Peel the onion and garlic and chop them
both finely. Sauté them with the bay leaf over medium heat in a little olive
oil for about 5 minutes, until translucent. Add the beet greens
(stems first if you're using them, then leaves a minute or two later) along with the raisins and cook 5 minutes more, covered. Salt
and pepper to taste, then stir in the mint leaves and serve.
The greens were unusual - but in a good way. We may try them on pasta sometime soon.
