Good Greens: Mustard: it’s not just for hotdogs

Wait!  Stay, while I move you beyond thinking about yellow mustard for your hotdogs or overgrown, overcooked, bitter, abused mustard greens and into the realm of mustard greens bursting with flavor and health.  When I was a kid, my mother would send my sister and me to the garden to pick mustard greens–in high summer.  We would invariably come back claiming that there were none ready, but she could look out the window and know we were fibbing.  She’d cut the greens, wash them, and then cook them to death.  The whole house would smell.  They tasted awful, but I ate them because that was what a good kid was supposed to do.

Fast forward many years and a culinary lifetime later.  I’ve had mustard greens lightly braised, and I’ve eaten them fresh in salads.  And I liked them.  Today I want to encourage you to like them too.  As I understand it from around the web, a lot of people have been getting mustard greens in their CSA baskets and veg boxes.  Hopefully this little primer will help you enjoy them like I do.

Why Eat Mustard Greens

Mustard greens are phenomenally good for you.  In my post-operative state, the high rate of Vitamin K in mustard greens (more than 500% of the RDA!) is excellent news.  Mustard greens are also chocked full of other vitamins, and they are superior for fighting cancer and aging.  Like kale, they pack a huge wallop of nutrition for a tiny number of calories.  I don’t just eat them because they’re good for me.  I eat mustard greens because, properly raised and properly prepared, they also have a wallop of flavor.

The Flavor

Step one in thinking about whether you’ll like mustard greens is thinking about whether you like prepared mustard, which is basically mustard green seeds and vinegar.  If you’re okay with prepared mustard, you can like mustard greens.  The trick to enjoying them is eating them in season–that is, before it gets too hot outside.

Using Mustard Greens

You can eat mustard greens fresh or cooked. Just please, please don’t boil them to death.

• Fresh baby mustard greens give a kick to salads.
• A few days ago we had fresh medium-sized mustard greens one of my favorite ways, instead of lettuce on turkey-ham sandwiches.
• You can also braise more mature mustard greens.  Just remember that you’ll need what Southerners call a “mess of greens”–that is, big pile–because they’ll cook down so much.  Begin removing the tough center rib.  Then roughly chop the greens and wilt them in a little hot oil (or bacon drippings, if you have any around) in a large pan.  As the greens start to wilt, add a lighter vinegar (balsamic may be too strong) and, if you want, a squirt of honey or splash of soy sauce or sprinkle of salt.  Some folks add tabasco too.  Serve them as soon as they get tender.
• Consider add mustard greens to Asian-inspired stir fries.  They’re classic!

Growing Mustard Greens for the Sweetest, Mild Flavor

Mustard greens naturally have a sharp flavor, but that flavor is balanced by a green sweetness when you pick the greens in cooler seasons.  If you want to start liking mustard greens, try them when they’re growing temperatures have not exceeded 80 degrees F for the daytime high.  Honestly, I do not think that variety makes that much difference in mustard greens’ sharpness, although some Asian varieties (mizuna) may be a little sharper.  Mostly it’s the temperature.

A Few Recommended Varieties of Mustard Greens for the Home Garden

Mustard greens are incredibly easy to grow.  Three versatile favorites in our household are red mizuna (the purple Asian mustard featured here), mizuna (a lacier leafed, more delicate Asian mustard), and Southern giant, a bright green, frilly edged mustard.

Do you have questions about cooking or growing mustard greens?  Would you like to know some of the seed sources I use?  Do you have a favorite recipe for mustard greens you’d like to share?  Please let me know in the comments area!

Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader.  Short excerpts with full URL and attribution to Ozarkhomesteader are welcome.  Please contact me via comments for permission to use photographs.

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Favorite Salad #2: Mediterranean, and other than that you’ll just have to read

We eat a lot of salad around here with various permutations and combinations, but two have come to have names.  One we call “favorite salad #1.”  No, I have not posted about it yet.  You’ll just have to come back to find out about it.  (Grin.) Tonight I’m talking “Favorite salad #2.”  Favorite salad #2 is Mediterranean in influence, incorporating some things we grow and some things we buy.  Actually, this salad has a larger percentage of non-local products than we usually eat; maybe that’s what makes it name worthy.    The ingredients are sweet, tangy, salty, and ever so slightly bitter, making for a wonderful blend.  For each individual salad, layer the ingredients from top to bottom in roughly this order:

• 1-2 cups mixed baby greens, big pieces gently torn, or in summer chard and/or mustard greens
• optional if in season:  cucumber, quartered lengthwise and then sliced thinly–put on outside edge of greens
• course grated carrot (a couple of tablespoons per salad)
• 1-2 thinly sliced radishes
• 1-3 dried tomatoes, cut into thin strips
• 1 tablespoon of feta cheese (goat cheese feta makes it really special)
• a few sliced pitted kalamata olives
• optional if in season:  halves or quarters of cherry tomatoes
• 1-2 tablespoons slivered or sliced almonds, toasted (325 degree F for 5-7 minutes)
• 1-2 tablespoons dried black currants
• optional:  chives, thin slices to garnish (I cut these with kitchen scissors straight over the salad)

You can serve this salad with a homemade oil and vinegar dressing or get even more non-local and try it with a store-bought Mediterranean-inspired dressing like Drew’s Lemon Goddess Tahini or Annie’s Goddess Dressing. Both of these are tahini-based dressings, the sesame paste featured in  hummus (chickpea dip). We like the salad with Italian, Greek, and Middle Eastern food.  In the winter it may be a part of a big meal.  In the summer, it may be the meal all on its own (or maybe with some watermelon, mmmmmm).

Give it a try and let me know what you think!  Do you have a favorite salad combo?  We’d really like for you to share it with us.

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Christmas “Lettuce”: Serving Vegetables Your Kids Will Eat

Copyright Ozarkhomesteader 2009.  All rights reserved.  See other posts on fair use.

If there’s anything I’ve learned from walking kids (and adults!) through my garden, it’s that a cute name or a vibrant color goes a long way toward getting kids (and adults!) to try something new.  A few years ago some friends’ kids, then aged about 5 and 9, were walking through the garden to see what was new.  When I showed the older son the banana peppers, he told his younger sister, “Hey, these are bananas!”  She expressed disbelief, and I told her that they were sweet peppers that just looked like bananas.  ”Can I have one?” she asked.  ”Of course,” I told her, cutting off one for her and her brother.  They both wiped them off on their shirts and then chomped into them.  As they made their way back to their car to go home, they asked their parents if it was okay for them to take the peppers in the car.  They snacked on them all the way home.  Now these kids are pretty adventurous eaters, but I’ve seen similar things with other kids who were less adventurous.  If it looks pretty or sounds fun, kids will try it!

Today I picked some chard with beautiful deep green leaves and bright red stems.  I always think ruby chard is pretty, but this time of year, it makes me think of Christmas.   Try this one on your kids:  use small ruby chard leaves in a salad with other rosy vegetables and maybe some white cheese or creamy dressing to make a  Christmas salad.  You could even call it a reindeer salad.  Just don’t call it chard, which is definitely not an appealing name.  If you can’t find baby ruby chard in your CSA basket, farmer’s market, or grocery store, you still have time to grow it before the holidays.  Begin by soaking the seed to give them a head start.  If you have a cold frame, you can grow them in there.  If you don’t have a cold frame, don’t despair.  Just use heavy clear plastic–like that old shower curtain liner you need to replace–to heat up the ground and protect the seeds and seedlings as they grow.  Keep the ground under the plastic watered well, and keep the plastic a few inches off any seedlings and growing greens.  If you plant this week, by Christmas you’ll have beautiful baby greens!  And Swiss chard of every color packs a wallop of nutrients, including more than 700% of your recommended daily value of Vitamin K, which will help you keep strong bones.  For more on chard’s amazing nutrient value, see here.

Real lettuce varieties you may want to try for holiday spirit include deer tongue (a deep red leaf type lettuce) and Marvel of Four Seasons (a red and green crinkly lettuce), both from John Scheeper’s Kitchen Garden Seed, and Botanical Interests’s Valentine Mix.  You can start all of these and get some baby lettuce by Christmas too!

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Fresh Mex for a Hot Summer Day

Temperatures have been pushing 100 degrees F in the Ozarks for the past week, and every meal I’ve planned has needed to be nutritious but cooling.  One night, I made a “fresh Mex” meal using good stuff we had on hand, like corn, serrano pepper, watermelon, tomatoes, peaches, and cucumber.  I started by making my own “Cool as a Cucumber” Soup.  Then I assembled a cold corn-bean-peach salad.  I also cut some greens and grilled some chicken and chicken chorizo (in the air conditioning!).  The final refreshing component of the meal was a Melon-rita.  Recipes follow.  So do pictures—please pardon the blur and exposure.  I’d say the flaws were due to the Melon-Ritas, but I hadn’t had any yet when I took the pictures.

Cool as a Cucumber Soup

This soup requires no cooking at all.  Nope, none.

Ozark Homesteader's Cool-As-A-Cucumber Soup

Makes 2 cup-sized servings

½ good-sized pickling cucumber (no wax!)

bunch of garlic chives

sour cream, buttermilk, or yogurt (use what you have!  I like a combination)

chicken broth for thinning, if needed

pinch of good ranch mix, like Simply Organic

salt and pepper to taste

Chop the cucumber and garlic chives roughly and then place them in a blender cup (not the whole blender for this size recipe).  Add sour cream, buttermilk, and/or yogurt to the fill line (about 1 to 1 ½ cups).  Add in the pinch of powdered ranch mix or your own seasonings.  Puree.  Taste.  If you think the soup is too thick, dilute it with  a little chicken broth.  I did not find this step necessary. Add salt and pepper as you like.  Puree again.  Refrigerate until time for supper.

Corn-Bean-Peach Salad

Corn-Bean-Peach Salad

Serves 4

two fresh ears sweet corn

½ can unseasoned beans (black, kidney:  use what you have!)

½ sweet yellow onion

1 medium tomato, skin on if you are eating homegrown organic

1 fresh, sweet peach

1-2 hot peppers (serrano, jalapeno)

1 grated carrot (if you have a fresh carrot)

½ bell pepper

small bunch of cilantro (substitute parsley if you don’t like cilantro)

one stem fresh oregano, leaves only

olive oil and vinegar, no more than 1 Tablespoon each

Roast the corn.  I wrapped mine in aluminum foil and baked it for about 20 minutes.)

Meanwhile drain and rinse the beans, clean and chop the onion, peach, tomato, and peppers.  Chop the cilantro and oregano with the onion and try to get all three very fine.  I use one of those chop wizard things for this task. Once the corn has cooled, cut it off the cob.  Begin by making medium cuts down the cob.  Then go back and scrap the cob.  Toss everything together and put it in the fridge for at least two hours.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Fresh-Mex Salad

Begin with a bed of good greens—sturdy lettuce if you have it or another green like chard.  Top with grilled sweet onions sauteed with chicken breast and chicken choriza.

Chicken breast, chicken chorizo, and onions

Pile on the Corn-Bean-Peach salad.  Add guacamole, good ranch dressing, tortilla chips, or nothing at all.  Eat!

Fresh-Mex Meal

Melon-Rita

Get out that blender again, but this time we’re going to use the big jar.  Start with about a quarter cup each triple sec, tequila, and good lime juice.  Add chunks of watermelon to the fill line.  Yes, this will be about ½ a bambino watermelon.  Blend until smooth.  Taste.  Adjust to your likes, remembering that your sweet is coming from the Triple Sec.  Refrigerate until you are ready to drink.  Serve over ice.  Freeze leftovers, and you’ll have a great watermelon-rita slushy.

Meat and Three

By the way, this meal is another example of the Southern classic “meat and three,” which provides great protein and nutrition with meat as a flavoring, not the main focus of the dish.  You could even leave out the meat altogether and still meet your nutritional needs.  Southerners ate this way because they often did not have fresh meat and it was a frugal way to stay healthy.

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