What do you do with your leafy greens?

I wash mine, stir fry them in olive oil and then add the juice of half a lemon per serve. Sometimes a little tomato paste too. I cook weeds this way too. I believe it's called 'Horta' in Greek.

Sometimes I blend my greens with banana to make a smoothie.

What does everyone else do with them?

Quick boil and butter. Sometimes use olive oil and salt instead.

A scrambled egg dish can be made with the hot greens. Same process, then toss in a few eggs. Sometimes I stew the butter or oil in curry powder, pepper and Italian spice mix. Chopped nuts improve it further.

I tried the scrambled eggs too, and it was yummy, but found it better to scramble the eggs then add the greens otherwise I found the eggs went grey!

Steamed then a sprinkle of red wine vinegar , maybe a little olive oil. Also in soups. I love a kale omelet.

Chopped fine and sauteed quickly then added to a dish of rice and beans.

Chopped fine and sauteed quickly then add eggs on top to scramble.

Juicing.

Chopped fresh into stratta and quiche and then bake.

Sauteed and served with a side of mashed potatoes

(I never boil my greens)

Jaques Pepin has a great recipe for garlic flavored white beans served atop a bed of steamed greens . I put parmesan on top too.

With kale, pakchoi, even collard greens... leafy brassica, I saute in butter or olive oil (or both) finely diced garlic and stems until garlic is browning then add the chopped leaves,which I cook at low heat until they're almost cooked (not mushy, bleh) with lid on. Then I turn off the burner, add some balsamic vinegar, stir, and let sit for a couple of minutes.

or... I make crispy kale... mmmmm

Chard, same as above...

Same with spinach... I always cook spinach, at least slightly.

I love Asian-y stirfried veg, especially the mustardy ones like giant red mustard. I like it still really crispy.
I throw Egyptian walking onions, leaves, garlic, ginger, oil and chilli into a really hot pan:
After a minute I turn off the heat, add a splash of water, seseme oil, fish sauce and tamari.
I usually eat it on rice with coriander, Vietnamese mint, Thai basil, and more chilli, of course.
I think this is the best thing ever to eat with my lactic-pickled, star anise flavoured garlic. Actually, adding some braised pork belly wouldn't be bad...

Mmm... Leila, that sounds so good.

Little bit of olive oil or butter saute some garlic and a little bit of red pepper flakes once the garlic has cleared a bit throw in the greens, once they wilt remove and I use either vinegar or lemon juice once on the plate. It's also good this way using a pan and a small bit of the fat from cooking porkchops. Sometimes I'll throw in some pumpkin seeds or sliced almonds or filberts in there.

I'm eating a version of the stirfry now, with the last of the peppers, broccoli and Florence fennel that just keeps pushing out bulbs after I cut the seed heads off.
Looks like I've found me another handy winter perennial

I use my huge End-of-season greens by quickly dipping the whole leaf in boiling water for a couple seconds. then I lay them a few layers thick onto my dehydrator trays and dry them. About half way through I add some course salt and sesame seeds. Once completely dry I store them in bags and enjoy throughout the winter. This year I want to add salt and spices between the layers of greens. They make a nice crisp snack and once in a while I throw some in a soup for fun.

Beet greens go into a pot with some bacon. Boil em up. Beet greens and bacon is about the best thing there is. A Splash of vinegar, pat of butter, some salt and pepper.
Dandelion greens, same way, but the dandelions in the south are unpalatable.
Growing up in downeast Maine, greens are boiled. Always have been, probably will be for a long time still.

I've canned several types of greens-spinach, collards, mustard, kale, beet, turnip, chard. I've canned chard stems. These go well with a brisket when there is no celery. I just add them at the end.

I've grabbed a bowl, fork, and bottle of ranch dressing and strolled around the garden.

Spinach: put in the dehydrator, run through the grain mill, turn it to dust. Add the spinach powder to flour and egg, get spinach fettucini. Wicked good.

Basil: pesto, dehydrate, tossed salad.

Ken, thanks for the powdered greens tip! I have some greens right now that I dehydrated but had not figured out what to do with them next - the powder is a great idea.

Mostly I feed them to my chickens and goats, but once in awhile I'll tear them up into a big bowl, drizzle on some really good olive oil and balsamic vinegar, then crumble some Roquefort and macadamia nuts over the pile. Amazing!

Lots of really good suggestions here - especially in with eggs, sautes and such.

My absolute favorite these days is basted eggs on top of sauteed greens for breakfast. Bacon on the side is lovely, but not necessary.

First, I caramelize onions, add in diced bacon (or simply use bacon fat for the onions), throw in the chopped stems of the greens next, and lastly add the leafy bits of collards, kale, chard, beet greens, whatever I have on hand. Salt and pepper, and it's just yummy as is.

I leave this sitting covered to finish steaming and keep warm while frying/basting the eggs. I've tried to do both at once, but there have been too many times where I screwed up and let the egg yolks get hard, and that just ruins the whole dish for me!

I also love kale chips (thought we had a thread on those here somewhere but couldn't find it) in the oven with just olive oil, salt and pepper; or in the food dehydrator with a yummy sauce.

Like Petra, I love greens with a bit of lemon, especially good with lightly sauteed collard greens. I also add them to just about everything else I cook. I've never had any success growing spinach here, but the brassicas go crazy. So I add plenty of kale (dino kale is the most tender) to my pasta sauces, and whatever greens I have on hand get added to soups, grain dishes like rice or barley, fried potatoes with some cheese on top, and often I just make a side of steamed or sauteed greens as a side to whatever else I'm cooking. I plant the seeds pretty densely, then thin them as they grow and eat the thinnings. This way I can start eating some greens within a few weeks of planting seeds. When they are young and tender they are excellent in salads. Next time I have some cream or milk, I'm going to try a creamed green soup. I like things simple and more on the super healthy side, but my husband likes rich, so a creamy green soup might be a good compromise.

It depends on the greens how they get prepared. At the moment it's massaged kale that in perfect season.

Wash kale. Rip into bite sized pieces. Add olive oil, balsamic vinegar. Optional is some grated high quality parmasean. Put in a big bowl and massage with your hands until tender. Tender should be slighty dark like as if it was cooked but not cooked down like stir fried.

Making nettle pesto and nettle soup in a few weeks when the nettles are prime. Nettles are also good dried, powdered and added to homemade pasta.

I take a sauce pan brown off a diced chicken breast with olive oil garlic and onions. Throw in greens usually spinach but bok choy works, wilt it add broth or even just water a handfull of tortelinis, fresh soup in less than 20 minutes.

The kale, chard, and collards coming out of the garden at the moment gets rolled and cut thick, stems included; then tossed in a soffrito of onion, celery, and sweet peppers in olive oil, very firm. A splash of water, and covered for some seconds until bright. Ditch the heat and the lid, then squeeze some lime over it all.
Great by itself or piled next to some quinoa with a fatty fish fillet on top.

Drink them every morning by juicing.

One of my favorite breakfasts is homegrown eggs, poached over a bed of greens. Typically flavored with black pepper, turmeric, onion, and garlic.

Joseph, your eggs and greens looks perfect!! The plate, the greens, your seasonings - all beautiful!

Here's a version I made a couple years ago, posted in our food and drink at the project thread.



It's hard for me to eat cold, leafy greens in salad in the winter time, but I like to layer fresh leafy greens under soup, between or under sauce and whatever it's going on, for a "wilted" and warmed, just barely cooked green.

In the summer, we love fresh greens as salad with homemade vinaigrette on a daily basis.

Any hardy green can be simmered in any good broth and I will love it. It becomes a steamy, semi-mushy, wonderful side or can become a lovely ingredient in quiche, pie, veggie burger, or meatloaf. Or it can just be a beautiful pile next to a roast. Also I just learned about colcannon which is just sauteed greens mashed into mashed root veggies, I've been loving that lately.

I do lots of saag, especially in the winter and early spring when the silverbeet and mustard greens are the size of a small child. Toast some cumin and any other spicy seeds you happen to like in coconut oil or butter, then add a chopped onion and saute until brown. Add minced garlic along the way. While this is going on, chop the greens and cook with a small amount of water until limp. If you have a stick blender, whiz them into a puree at this stage and then add the onion and spice mixture. Salt to taste and add chunks of cheese (we really like grilled halloumi chunks).

Spanakopitta from a classic River Cottage episode where there's a nettle eating contest:

Corner shop spanakopitta
We don't have nettles in southeast Asia but bokchoy, mustard greens, and regular or water spinach works in the recipe too.

Today I harvested one chard plant and two "branches" of purple ribbed dino kale (which is starting to make sprouts that look just like broccoli).  I also found that a purple broccoli I planted last summer finally made a head! The harvest was so pretty I had to take a picture.

I chopped up the kale (after removing the ribs) and cooked it with a bit of bacon and ham.  I added a bit of seasoned salt, and a thin drizzle of a balsamic vinegar reduction sauce.  

Next I separated the chard stems from the greens, chopped them and cooked them in lard (there was no more bacon) with salt and pepper.  I chopped the chard greens and put them in a little later, then topped it with three eggs.  I moved the eggs around to cook all of the whites (keeping the yolks on top of greens) and then turned off the heat, letting the residual heat from the cast iron pan cook the yolks (which I stirred into the dish at the end of the process).

I was amazed that all those greens ended up filling just a 9" square glass pan, and further amazed that my family of four ate every last bit!