Blogs
Confession: I Was Seduced by Colorful Chard
The other night, we went to our friends Rob and Laura's and they made a really great steak dinner with a side of wilted chard and mustard greens. I am not usually a greens lover but they were very delicious and went well with the meat, so I was intrigued to learn how Rob and Laura had made them but not really thinking of ever making them myself.
Flash forward about a week, when Rob called to invite me for a Farmers Market forage. We were having a group over the next night, so I was shopping for that. And there they were. The purple chard. The rainbow kale. The spotty mustard greens. I swooned. They were so pretty! And seemed so full of health and life! I consulted with Rob and he helped me choose. I was excited to embark on the adventure with my bags overflowing with these 6 giant bunches of beautiful chards and greens. Because they cook down so very much that you have to get a ridiculously large amount to have enough when all is said and done. That much, I knew.
Having no experience with the greens, I was woefully unaware of all of the pitfalls and timesucks that can occur when dealing with these brightly-hued temptresses. First came the realization that I would have to cut out the woody ribbing on each leaf. 6 bunches x each leaf = a long time. Next, the understanding that the leaves needed to be thoroughly washed and dried, which led me to a giant pile of towels and leaves, using every dishtowel I own. Then, they took a heckuva lot longer to cook than I expected. Having only wilted spinach and cabbage, I had allotted about 3 minutes start to finish, and then here I was with all the other food done, and a big ol' pot of greens not wilting fast enough. And when they did wilt, of course, they were no longer beautiful or colorful, just sludgy greenish brown.
Now we are at the most disappointing part- they were not that tasty when all was said and done. They were OK. They were not great or even good. Just OK. Not even close to Rob and Laura's, it was barely like I was eating the same thing. So I don't know where I went wrong- was it the greens? Or how I prepared them? Or both? Only half were eaten and that was a bit heartbreaking after all of my best efforts. At any rate I am going to just skip it from now on and let Rob and Laura make me my greens and stick to spinach in my own home!
Luckily the main course was a hit- and one of my all-time favorite and very first posted recipes- Asian Braised Short Ribs. If you love slow-cooked meat and have about 5 hours to sit around then I recommend you bite the bullet and make them. They are so damn tasty and always worth the effort, unlike, ahem, some other things mentioned on this page.
Flash forward about a week, when Rob called to invite me for a Farmers Market forage. We were having a group over the next night, so I was shopping for that. And there they were. The purple chard. The rainbow kale. The spotty mustard greens. I swooned. They were so pretty! And seemed so full of health and life! I consulted with Rob and he helped me choose. I was excited to embark on the adventure with my bags overflowing with these 6 giant bunches of beautiful chards and greens. Because they cook down so very much that you have to get a ridiculously large amount to have enough when all is said and done. That much, I knew.
Having no experience with the greens, I was woefully unaware of all of the pitfalls and timesucks that can occur when dealing with these brightly-hued temptresses. First came the realization that I would have to cut out the woody ribbing on each leaf. 6 bunches x each leaf = a long time. Next, the understanding that the leaves needed to be thoroughly washed and dried, which led me to a giant pile of towels and leaves, using every dishtowel I own. Then, they took a heckuva lot longer to cook than I expected. Having only wilted spinach and cabbage, I had allotted about 3 minutes start to finish, and then here I was with all the other food done, and a big ol' pot of greens not wilting fast enough. And when they did wilt, of course, they were no longer beautiful or colorful, just sludgy greenish brown.
Now we are at the most disappointing part- they were not that tasty when all was said and done. They were OK. They were not great or even good. Just OK. Not even close to Rob and Laura's, it was barely like I was eating the same thing. So I don't know where I went wrong- was it the greens? Or how I prepared them? Or both? Only half were eaten and that was a bit heartbreaking after all of my best efforts. At any rate I am going to just skip it from now on and let Rob and Laura make me my greens and stick to spinach in my own home!
Luckily the main course was a hit- and one of my all-time favorite and very first posted recipes- Asian Braised Short Ribs. If you love slow-cooked meat and have about 5 hours to sit around then I recommend you bite the bullet and make them. They are so damn tasty and always worth the effort, unlike, ahem, some other things mentioned on this page.
Comments