149. Oh, All Rigkt. I'll Rise to the Okkasion.

Klap your hands for Kickass Kale and Other Gkreens for Braisink

Click to make the mosaic bigger.

...from my kingdom.  (It's very green and lush around here right now, I must admit.  I'm not gloating.  Really.)

BRAISED GREENS (Easy and Quick! You ken do this! Yes, you ken!)

Assemble a larger quantity than you think you will need (they cook down in volume a lot) of various young greens.  Mine this time were kale, beet greens, spinach, and of course my new find, radish greens.  Rinse the greens, and shake off most of the water, leaving them a little bit wet.

Heat a tablespoon or two of a good-quality oil over medium-high heat.  This time I used peanut oil. (Peanut oil is great for stir-frying and braising, because it can tolerate high heat.  It's also high in vitamin E, which is a good thing, or so they tell me.) 

Add the greens to the hot oil, stirring to coat them with oil.  Stir occasionally.  After a little while, sprinkle some salt on if you wish.  Let them continue to wilt down, stirring occasionally.  Don't overcook them! 

You can eat them just like that.  Or do as I did this time:  Sprinkle them with a little balsamic vinegar.  Or lemon juice.  Be creative.  Pine nuts would be a nice addition, as would garlic cloves added to the oil when it is heating (but be careful not to burn the garlic).  Sliced onions or scallions added at that time would be good, too.

Your body will thank you.

This is very, very early in the year for me to be enjoying such bounty from my kingdom.  I'm not komplainink. 

P.S.  THANKS for all the great ideas for chives yesterday!

P.P.S.  I feel we must stage an intervention for Poor Sandy. Girl's never had a radish.  How can a gastronome of such stature have never had a radish, I ask you!  I'd ship some of mine, but they wouldn't ship well.  I'd put them in the car and drive some down there to her, but for the price of gas and global warming.  Sandy, get thee to a farmer's market and buy (and eat) a radish.  You cannot leave this earth without having tasted one. I mean, really.

K?

P.P.P.S.  K is also for kvetch.  I have not yet been blessed with the Typepad upgrade, praaaaiiiisssse the Loooooorrrrd.  But I had my first experience with trying to leave a comment last night, and having it deny me.  Twice!  How dare you deny me, Typepadsk?  And then this morning MY blog did not publish at its preset time. I had to publish it this morning after I got up.  Please do me a favor:  Finish debugging that fooker before you send the upgrade my way.  Believe me, you'd rather piss off my friends than me.  KThanks. 

Comments

[Erica]

That is a kwite lovely pikture! I'm not the biggest fkan of greenks but I'm learning diverskity. I've workkked myself up from just korn and greenk beans to asparagus, kale, seared spinack...I'm feeling kwite kosmopolitan and all!

And K is for Kvetch! Outstanding!

[Elizabeth]

Of course, now that I, among others 'gave' you K for kale, what am I going to use?
I had a glitch with the new Typepad, which wouldn't let me upload my photos the other day. My husband's super big and fast computer was able to, though. Hmmfph!
I'm jealous of those greens already and I always love a good braise.

[mahhgene]

Same problems with Typepad over at my place. Aren't we lucky?
Sandy, Sandy, Sandy!!
Do you know I can only eat kale in small quantities...it's a crying shame.

[SUE]

Oooh, and she should make sure to aslt it and dip it in really good butter. Mmm...radishes and butter....

[Cynthia]

Dear Norma, when I was in college, many, many moons ago, and poor, as most college students are, one of my mostest favoritest meals (no meal plans at my college in the 70s) was mac and cheese and radishes as my veggie! Mac and cheese (from the blue box) cooked in an electric frying pay no less! I don't know what about that combination struck a chord in me but it did! Love, love, love radishes. Must now try the green tops. Keep the faith!

[Teresa C]

No Typepad upgrade for me yet, either. My blog didn't publish yesterday when I had it set to though. Hopefully those Typepad types are working their fannies off right now.

[marianne]

HAHAHAHAH, Good Morning, Norma!

Seriously, Sandy, get a radish, eat it. :^)

[jessica~]

Mmmmm... radishhhhh....

[Roxie]

Yayyy for the K! Lovely post, Norma.

[Marcia Cooke]

K is for Kvetch.....snort! But AUGGGGH with the mosaics, already! You are making me kranky, lady!

[Cheryl S.]

Oh, you are too gloating! C'mon, admit it. At least I was able to harvest a few spinach leaves yesterday to add to my salad.

[Manise]

Lovely greenies! Your cooler temps I'm sure have been helping.

I was wondering why my usual morning blog reads are all posting SO late and I thought it was all on my end.

[KittyMommy]

Mmmmmm....greens. I hope they have some good ones at our farmer's market this afternoon, 'cause now I'm craving them! CSA doesn't start for a couple more weeks and a crappy apartment makes gardening difficult!

[kmkat]

I do spinach that way sometimes -- learned it from a co-worker from China. Mmmmm. I haven't gottten the *upgrade* yet, either :-)

[Beth S.]

I knew you wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to come up with a really good K. ;-)

[Cookie]

Fabulous post!

Perhaps one day TypePad will stop sucking. However, it won't be today and tomorrow doesn't look good, either.

(Think I should send our Sandy some radish seeds? Imagine a life without radishes! That's just wrong!)

[sandy]

You outed me. :D
Ahem:
Never a radish
into my esophagus
taste buds in mourning
~~
Radish Haiku. For you.
I LOVE braised greens. LERVE. Love your K also.
K is not my favorite letter. But you Knew that.
My mouth seems happy, and yet....
sincerely,
radishless in Beverly

[Judy]

hrummmmph! I'll be turning my garden over next week. WTF!

[(formerly) no-blog-rachel]

Oh you krack me up!

[--Deb]

I hate to tell you, but I don't like radishes, either. Of course, maybe it's just that I've never gotten homegrown ones? And the radish greens sound lovely, but those little red and white disks they like to throw into green salads? Nope, sorry.

[jessie]

I cannot wait for you to receive the Typepad "upgrade," because you are a woman who Makes Things Happen, and you will not put up with the new crap, so either they will change it back or you will leave Typepad.

Help us, Norma Rae! (I mean, Norma.)

[Rachel H]

Not sure how one doesn't get to taste a radish in their lifetime. I LURVE them with salt. Yum! Also, thanks for all of the googled ideas about chives. I have both regular chives and garlic chives in my herb garden and not sure what else to do with them! Thanks!

[TheAmpuT]

I'm picking kale and chard today, from my garden, too. I do the same thing with the oil (and thinly sliced garlic), but once the leaves wilt a bit, I add a bit of veggie stock to help them steam. Lately I've been doing this trick with the toaster oven at the same time -- I toast up some of these veg meatballs (T.Joe's) and then tossing them into the greens and broth a the end. Yumk! ;-)