Pink Greens Recipes

PINK GREENS

Steps:

• 1. Wash and trim the beet greens. If the stems are very thick, it's worth trimming them back a bit.
• 2. In a large sauté pan over medium heat, sauté the garlic, shallot, and red pepper flakes in the olive oil until slightly browned. Add the black pepper, sugar, and salt.
• 3. Place the beet greens in the pan, pour 1/4 cup water over them, and immediately cover. Once the greens have cooked down, 1 to 2 minutes, remove the lid and stir. Cook for another 1 to 2 minutes, allowing the water to evaporate.
• 4. Just before serving, pour the vinegar over the greens. Serve and enjoy!
• If you double the amounts as we did, so that it serves 4 people, add vinegar to taste. Twice the amount may be too much. You could use the same technique with spinach, arugula, chard, or any other dark leafy green.
• Marissa Grace Desmond and her husband, Ian Kaminski‐Coughlin, live in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Their favorite entertaining tip: "For dinner parties, we share online spreadsheets with our guests, so everyone can see who has responded. It also makes it much easier to coordinate who is bringing what and whether or not we need more wine!"
• Alli51: "This recipe would work great for various types of Asian greens (which I typically just cook with a bit of oil, kosher salt, and some soy/fish sauce and maybe some chicken broth). This will be much more interesting!"

MIDWINTER GREENS TONIC

Steps:

• Puree escarole, spinach, kale, celery, apple, water, lemon juice, honey, and ginger in a blender until very smooth. Strain, pressing through a fine-mesh sieve. Serve immediately over ice or chill up to 1 hour and shake well to redistribute.

SOUTHERN STYLE COLLARD GREENS

Steps:

• Combine onions, ham hocks, and garlic in a stockpot; add chicken broth. Cook mixture over medium heat until meat is falling off the bone, about 2 hours.
• Stir collard greens, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper into the broth mixture; cook until greens have reached desired tenderness, about 2 more hours.

PINK RISOTTO WITH BEET GREENS AND ROASTED BEETS

Steps:

• Bring the stock to a simmer in a saucepan. Season well and turn the heat to low. Stack the stemmed, washed greens and cut crosswise into 1-inch wide strips.
• Heat the oil over medium heat in a large nonstick frying pan or wide, heavy saucepan and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until the onion begins to soften, about 3 minutes, and add the rice and garlic. Cook, stirring, until the grains of rice are separate and beginning to crackle, about 3 minutes.
• Stir in the wine and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. The wine should bubble, but not too quickly. You want some of the flavor to cook into the rice before it evaporates. When the wine has just about evaporated, stir in a ladleful or two of the simmering stock (about 1/2 cup), enough to just cover the rice. The stock should bubble slowly (adjust heat accordingly). Cook, stirring often, until it is just about absorbed. Add another ladleful or two of the stock and continue to cook in this fashion, not too fast and not too slowly, stirring often and adding more stock when the rice is almost dry, for 10 minutes.
• Stir in the greens and the diced beets, and continue adding more stock, enough to barely cover the rice, and stirring often, for another 10 to 15 minutes. Taste a bit of the rice. Is it cooked through? It should taste chewy but not hard in the middle. Definitely not soft like steamed rice. If it is still hard in the middle, you need to continue adding stock and stirring for another 5 minutes or so. Now is the time to ascertain if there is enough salt. Add if necessary.
• When the rice is cooked through, add a generous amount of freshly ground pepper, and stir in another half cup of stock, the Parmesan and the parsley. Remove from the heat. The rice should be creamy; if it isn't, add a little more stock. Stir once, taste and adjust seasonings, and serve.

MIXED GREENS WITH PINK PEPPERCORN VINAIGRETTE

Steps:

• Place mustard, vinegar, and peppercorns in a medium bowl; whisk. Still whisking, slowly add olive oil; continue whisking until emulsified. Just before serving, toss with greens; season with salt and pepper.