Free Greens

I love vegetables, I love greens.....I especially love free greens. If I buy a veggie and it has an edible stem or leaves, you better believe I'm going to eat them! So when I come across a fresh looking, in season vegetable, at the market with greens attached, and I've never used it before, the first thing I do is look up recipes on the internet.

I'll start by googling the name of the veggie green followed by the word "recipe", for instance, "radish greens recipe". Next I'll cruise recipes to see if there is a common theme....traditional flavor pairings. There is always a salad or pasta recipe, and if I can eat it raw, uncooked, then I'll usually go for that first.

I would never buy beets without the greens attached...that's the best part!

Japanese turnips from Cosentinos Market near my home. I used the leaves, not the stems.

If push comes to shove I can always throw the greens in my hot soup to wilt, ( a close friend teases me that greens in soup is my "signature"). In fact I threw some turnips in my veggie soup this afternoon and then the greens after it was done, but still hot...it was so good that I went to the market to get more veggies to make another batch! The turnip greens were chewy...I liked them! And I have yet to find turnips with the greens attached at a market....usually only at the Farmers Market.

You can almost always bring wilted, not dead (!), greens back to life by simply cutting off the bottoms in most cases and submerging them in cold water...

leave them for a few minutes for a good drink! Then shake the water off, wrap in a dry towel (paper ot a thin cotton towel), and refrigerate.

I got lazy after the Farmers Market on Sunday and I didn't wash my celery, turnips or green onions right away and they went limp (first photo). So I brought them back to life( second photo)....the celery and turnip greens went into my soup after being refreshed...there was no way I was going to throw them away!

Greens are good. Greens are life.