They’re super in soups (yep, did that on purpose), tasty in frittatas, impossibly good (and impossible to detect) in Shepherd’s Pie.
Buuuut, let’s try one more way. Let’s roast them.
Let’s tame the heck out of them.
Oh, and this is gonna be really simple.
You ready?!
When I was working on this recipe I tried a few different things. I was going to make a sauce for the radishes, or maybe add a little more to them when roasting. But I realized that they didn’t need it.
They have a fun and interesting flavor. Why mask it?
I thought they’d be good quartered. They could be halved, or left whole. Just adjust the roasting time.
Then they’re tossed with just a few things: thyme, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
On to a baking sheet and they’re ready for the oven.
I told you it was going to be easy.
Just like their flavor, the colors become muted.
The remind me a bit of Easter eggs.
They’re served with a squeeze of lemon.
Simple as that. They’ve been tamed.
In my experience, cooking is generally a good way to tame a bold food. Whether it’s braised, roasted, sautéed, grilled… the heat usually mellows things out. However, if you’d like to try keeping things raw, mixing with complimentary flavors will also do the trick.
For radishes, think things like:
Lemon + dill +crab + cucumber + cream cheese.
Lemon juice + olive oil + parsley + onions.
Shrimp + soy sauce + scallions.
I like to chop or grate loud veggies when they’re going to be eaten raw (hello garlic, red onion, and radish!). It lets them continue to sing, just a little bit quieter, in harmony with the other ingredients.
There’s no need shy away from radishes any more. Whether they’re raw or cooked, I’ve got you covered.
1 bunch (about 8) radishes, tips and tails removed, quartered
1 t olive oil
to taste salt
to taste pepper
1/4 t dried thyme, crushed
lemon wedges, for serving
Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 375F.
Toss radishes with olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme. Place cut side down on a baking sheet and roast for 15-20 minutes. Flip and roast for 5 minutes more.
For a second, forget about what I know you must be anticipating as amazingness in the crostini. Ok. Done? Just for a moment… Because we need to talk about greens.
Not too long ago I talked about bitter greens and offered a few suggestions for their unbittering. I mentioned, but didn’t go into detail about braising. But, now that I’ve tried it, I may never go back to any other way of cooking greens. (Ok, that maaaaay be a bit dramatic…)
Braised greens are simply amazing.
Seriously.
Llano Seco sent me a ham hock. I just had to try braising the greens with it. Oooooh boy! What a fun treat. If you can find one, I’d totally recommend it. It will be worth it. If you can’t, vegetarian is wonderful as well. I’ve made braised greens both ways. I’ve enjoyed them all immensely.
The greens braised for about two hours. I’ve tried them after shorter amounts of time and they’re great too. So if you don’t have a lot of time, don’t worry about it. But, if you’ve got a few hours to spare, try it. (And by a few hours I mean a tiny bit of time to get the ingredients into a pot, then just one eyeball on the pot every so often.) The result is tender, flavorful, AWESOME greens.
They’re not only perfect to top our little crostini, but this big batch can be frozen and later added to soups, rice dishes, or used to top some Paris Potatoes.
Now we can talk about the crostini.
Sorry. Wait. I need to interrupt myself again to tell you that I made these, then I stood beside the photography table and devoured them. I just couldn’t stop.
Interruption over.
So there was a ham hock in the greens. Then there’s some Llano Seco Italian Sausage that’s chopped up and heated in a few tablespoons of the braising liquid. You could really just end there with the greens and sausage. Pile it all on some rice or potatoes and call it dinner.
But, I didn’t do that.
I wanted some little toasts. So I sliced up a baguette, drizzled it with olive oil, and sprinkled with salt and pepper. They toasted up in the oven for a few minutes.
They were topped with some of the greens, and a few pieces of sausage. And then… a squeeze of lemon. One of my favorite ways to finish a dish.
If you can, share with friends. They will be glad you did.
8-9 C greens (mixture of any: chard, kale, collards, spinach…), roughly chopped
salt
pepper
2 T white vinegar
Crostini: 10-20 slices of baguette
olive oil
salt
pepper
1 clove garlic (optional)
3-4 T braising liquid
2-3 Italian sausages, halved and chopped
lemon wedges, for serving
Instructions
Heat a soup pot. Add oil. Add celery, radish, garlic, salt, and pepper, and cook over medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add ham hock and cook for 2 minutes. Add greens and vinegar and cook for 2 minutes more.
Add stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 1-2 hours, stirring every once in a while.
Pre-heat oven to 350F.
Drizzle baguette slices with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 5-10 minutes, or until crispy. Rub with a clove of garlic if desired.
Add 3-4 T of the braising liquid to a skillet and add the sausage. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until heated through.
Top each slice of toasted baguette with some greens (try to avoid too much braising liquid so they don’t get soggy), a few pieces of sausage, and a squeeze of lemon.
We got some amazing ham the other day from Llano Seco. Since Tim loves ham, I try to remember to have it appear on the menu every once in a while.
Because we are just two, even a mini ham yields leftovers. They are great for sandwiches, of course. But, a couple of months ago I made them into soup. I didn’t take any pictures, so I had to make it again last week.
Oh darn.
Might be ones of my favorite soups. Even the leftovers were gone within a day or two.
There’s all sorts of goodness happening in this soup. Potatoes, carrots, radishes, green garlic and spring onions. The stock is vegetable, made from the previous week’s older veggies that were on their way out.
Homemade goodness.
I love a creamy soup, so I added some almond milk. The milk was first whisked with a bit of flour and water to act as a thickener. I think this soup would be delightful without the milk and if it wasn’t thickened. But, I definitely like it best the way it is.
If you don’t like almond milk, you can use coconut milk, cow’s milk, goats milk, rice milk… you get the picture. Whatever milk you prefer to drink will work just fine. If you want a richer soup, cream would do the trick. Make it to your family’s tastes.
Any greens will do, but this time I chose kale and collards. I’ve made this before with mizuna (which tastes like a mild mustard green), and spinach would be perfect too.
I almost always like a squeeze of lemon on everything. It just brightens things up. This soup is no different.
Happy Eating!
Ham and Greens Chowder
Recipe Type: Soup, Main, Vegetables, Ham, Pork, Greens, Stove Top
Author: Rachel Oberg – De Ma Cuisine
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 40 mins
Total time: 50 mins
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
2 T olive oil
2 C potatoes, chopped
1 C daikon radish (or any kind of radish), chopped
1 1/2 C carrot, chopped
to taste salt
to taste pepper
3 stalks green garlic (or 3 cloves garlic), chopped
1 C spring onions (or regular onion), chopped
7 1/2 C vegetable stock (frozen is fine)
1/2 C corn
1 t sriracha (or other brand) hot sauce
1 C ham, chopped
1 T all purpose flour
1/2 C cold water
1 C milk (almond, coconut, cow’s…)
4 C greens (I used 12 kale leaves and 4 collards), chopped
lemon wedges, for serving
Instructions
Heat soup pot. Add oil. When oil is hot add potatoes through pepper. Cook covered on medium-low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add garlic, onion, and if stock is frozen, add it now (if not, add it after the garlic and onions cook for 1-2 minutes). Cook covered, over high heat, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add corn, sriracha, and ham. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 20-25 minutes, or until veggies are tender.
Whisk together flour, water, and milk. Add to soup. Let it simmer, but do not boil. Add greens and cook 2-5 minutes longer.
Can I tell you something that I might not admit to my 12-year old self? I really like vegetables. I’m totally crazy about lots of other foods that she would enjoy too (hello bacon), but you know how people say that the more you eat healthy things the more you crave them? It’s actually been true for me.
We started subscribing to Abundant Harvest Organics in December of 2007. We’ve been on this journey for a while now. I’ve learned a lot. There are so many vegetables that I’d never heard of 7 years ago. Thankfully, now I know what a rutabaga is, that beets are enjoyable, and most recently, how to cook some really good greens.
I’ve always been a “use what I have”, practical, efficient cooker. Don’t have an ingredient? I’ll substitute for it. If I don’t think a step is needed, I eliminate it. But, sometimes there are steps that I didn’t know were a good idea, like blanching when cooking things like collard greens. I’d never done it, because I didn’t know I should.
Blanching is when you partially cook a food in boiling water then submerge it in an ice bath to stop the cooking.
I learned my lesson today.
I’ve never really been bothered too much by the bitterness in greens. I think because I’ve got the basics down: add fat and salt (not like a waaaay too much amount, a good amount, to make them taste great). Sometimes I add sugar and spice. These are things that I read about doing to reduce bitterness in greens. Cool. Checkmark. Done did.
But but but wait. I needed to see if I was missing out on something. So I did a little test: collard greens three ways.
Here’s what happened.
One bunch of collard greens was divided up into three groups (each had 3-4 medium sized leaves – a small test, but it worked out just fine).
Group 1
Washed with water, stems removed, sliced into ribbons.
Skillet heated, 1/2 t butter added, let it melt a bit, added honey, then added the greens. Added salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and cooked over medium-low for 2 minutes. 1 t lemon juice is added and they cook for 1-2 minutes more. They’re removed from the heat and 1/2 t olive oil is added, along with a splash of lemon juice.
Group 2
Soaked in water and 1-2 t baking soda for a minute, then rinsed three times.
Skillet heated, 1/2 t butter added, let it melt a bit, added honey, then added the greens. Added salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and cooked over medium-low for 2 minutes. 1 t lemon juice is added and they cook for 1-2 minutes more. They’re removed from the heat and 1/2 t olive oil is added, along with a splash of lemon juice.
Group 3
Washed with water.
Stems removed.
Blanched: Salted water came to a boil, leaves were added, they cooked for about 2 minutes, then took a bath in some ice water for a few.
Sliced into ribbons.
Skillet heated, 1/2 t butter added, let it melt a bit, added honey, then added the greens. Added salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and cooked over medium-low for 2 minutes. 1 t lemon juice is added and they cook for 1-2 minutes more. They’re removed from the heat and 1/2 t olive oil is added, along with a splash of lemon juice.
Group three was way for sure 100% the winner. I guess I’m gonna blanch from now on.
They were tender, they kept their color, and most importantly, they were the least bitter.
I stood at the stove and ate the entire pan.
I used the leftover greens from groups 1 and 2 and tossed them with some leftover Mac and Cheese, topped it with crushed up homemade croutons and a bit of Parmesan cheese, and baked it until it was hot. Made for an easy, delicious dinner. Groups 1 and 2 weren’t bad. I’d even say they’re good. But, when you compare good with great, you gotta go with great (hello life lesson).
I don’t know if the baking soda soak really did much for group two. They may have been a little more tender and a little less bitter than group 1. Just a little. I probably wouldn’t bother with this step again. But, it was fun to try.
In general, to reduce the bitterness of leafy greens like turnip greens, collards, mustard greens, kale, spinach, chard, broccoli rabe, and beet greens, there are a few tricks:
Cooking the greens (sautéeing, simmering, braising, blanching) mellows them out (some ways more than others, some better when combined, like I learned today). Tougher greens, like the collards that I used today, will do better when blanched, than say a daintier baby spinach.
Adding salt “takes the edge off”. (1)
Adding fat softens the bitterness and adds flavor. (1) (3)
Adding spice masks the bitterness.
You can add lemon juice or salt to help reduce bitterness. (3)
Add baking soda to water when washing then rinse three times. (2)
Some recipes that I like (or would like to try) with these greens:
Recipe Type: Vegetables, Vegetarian, Sautéed, Side Dishes, Dinner, Greens, Quick and Easy, Blanching
Author: Rachel Oberg – De Ma Cuisine
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 2-3
Ingredients
16 collard green leaves, washed, stems removed
water (for boiling)
salt (for boiling)
2 t butter
2-4 t honey
to taste salt
to taste pepper
to taste red pepper flakes
3-4 t lemon juice
2 t olive oil
lemon juice, for topping
Instructions
Bring salted water to a boil. Add leaves and cook for about 2 minutes. Remove from water and place in a bowl of ice water for a few minutes.
Slice into ribbons.
Heat skillet and add butter, let it melt a bit, add honey, then add the greens. Add salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and cook over medium-low heat for 2 minutes, stirring often.
Um, but what about thinly slicing them and adding them to a potato gratin?
Sound fun?
I don’t usually peel my veggies. I don’t feel like I need to (unless they’re too tough, then it’s cool). There are lots of nutrients found in their skin, so I like to keep it on. (If you can’t stand the peel, there are still plenty of nutrients on the inside, so it’s definitely better to peel and eat than to not peel and not eat at all.)
I love honey and thyme. They’re one of my favorite duos right now.
Thyme, honey, and a creamy Parmesan cheese sauce will compliment the turnips well. And the turnips will compliment the carrots, who will compliment the potatoes, who will… ok enough.
My mom had a set of baking dishes like this when I was growing up (she probably still has them). So when I saw this one at a yard sale I had to have it. I like having things in the kitchen that remind me of family.
The thick cheesy sauce is spread between the layers of veggies. As it bakes, the veggies will finish cooking, and everything will meld into one tasty dish.
I wonder if I have any left in the fridge. It sounds really good right now.
Lemons totally brighten things up. I mean, not just their great color, but their wonderfully fresh citrusy flavor. It seemed like a good idea to squeeze a lemon slice over top before enjoying.
It was.
Last thing to note: if you have picky eaters who “think” they don’t like turnips… Tim said he didn’t know there were turnips in this dish, sooooooo yeah… 😉
1 1/2 C milk (almond, cows, a mixture, or any other kind that you enjoy)
1 T honey
to taste salt
to taste pepper
1/2 t dried thyme
3/4 C Parmesan cheese, grated (1/4 C reserved)
lemon wedges, for serving
Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 350F.
Place the veggies in a steamer basket in a pot of boiling water. Cover and steam for 20-25 minutes, or until they are par-cooked. Let cool slightly, then thinly slice.
Heat a medium sized pot or skillet over medium or medium-low heat. When it’s hot, add oil, then whisk in flour. Let it bubble for about 30 seconds. A bit at a time, whisk in milk, letting it thicken a bit between each addition. Stir in honey, salt, pepper, and thyme. Bring to a simmer and let it thicken for a few minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in cheese. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
Place a layer of veggies into a greased 8×8 ovenproof dish. Spoon a bit of the cheese sauce over the layer. Repeat until all veggies and sauce are gone. Top with the reserved cheese.
Bake uncovered for about 30-35 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
