Preparing & Storing Our Greens

Here is a tip from Martha Rose Shulman, NY Times contributor and cookbook author (The Simple Art of Vegetarian Cooking, 2014) for rescuing your refrigerator from those fluffy space-eating heads of greens we find in our shares at this time of year. Prepared in the following ways, the wilted greens will keep refrigerated three days or may be frozen. They are also prepped for quick use in gratins, pizzas, frittatas, pastas, tacos or quesadillas. Lesley

To Blanch:

1. Prepare a large pot of generously salted boiling water and a bowl with ice water.
2. Add greens. Time as follows:  Mature spinach- 20 seconds. Baby spinach- 5 seconds  Chard, beet greens, turnip greens- 1 minute,  Kale- 2-3 minutes  Collards- 3-4 minutes
3. Lift the wilted greens to the ice water bath and chill about 30 seconds and drain.

To Steam:

1. Heat 1 inch of water in a large pot with steamer insert (pasta pot), and an ice water bath as above.
2. Once the water is boiling add the greens, cover, and steam until they collapse. Time as follows:Spinach- 1-2 minutes, less than one minute for baby spinach; Chard, beet and turnip greens- 2 minutes; Kale- 3 minutes; Collards- 4-5 minute;  Using long tongs, turn the greens in the steamer basket midway through the process to ensure even steaming.
3. Remove greens to ice water bath, and chill about 30 seconds. Drain.

Squeeze the excess water from the greens and chop, coarsely or fine depending on intended recipe. Just before use, season with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, herbs, or hot pepper flakes, also, depending on recipe to be followed.