I suspect that I may be one of very few who get excited at the arrival of 'Spring Greens' in the shops.
It's usually the first properly outdoor grown veg' of the year, and it has that real taste of Spring about it. I spotted a large 500g pack at M & S recently for the silly price of 65p.
I eat it by itself as a lunchtime treat; almost like a salad. I strip the leaves from most of the stems, and steam for about 10 mins, then let it cool until required. I eat it as my own version of the Greek 'Horta', very simply dressed with Lemon juice and good unrefined Olive oil.
Horta is usually a mixture of wild and cultivated greens, but I only had a few Spinach leaves and some Rocket to add to my mix. I can't imagine this being to everyone's taste, but I love it. You can almost feel it doing you good!
Here it is (below) accompanied by a piece of Cheddar and a solitary Gherkin. Lovely.
Early cabbage is quite sweet to eat and as long as there’s none of the dreaded Kale in there your dish should be good.
ReplyDeletePersonally I love Kale too! In my TINY garden here, I'm actually growing some Cavolo Nero plants.
DeleteI prefer cabbage and brussels sprouts to leafy salad greens. New peas and baby beans too. I like lettuce, but not the spinach and kale types.
ReplyDeleteThe older I get, the more I like the really dark and bitter Cabbages and Kales.
DeleteWell done for eating your horta. You definitely need lemon juice and the best olive oil you can find, says my traditional Greek. He's waiting for the first of the summer horta which is just starting to come up in the garden. This one is called vlita. It's a national favourite, with slices of raw garlic, but not for me. I prefer cabbage or lettuce.
ReplyDeleteI've managed, at long last, to find some really good unrefined Olive oil, that is perfect for this. Simply delicious; but not to everyone's taste.
DeleteI love spring greens. Sliced thinly, saute'd in garlic and olive oil. Perfect with good sausages!
ReplyDeleteI shall follow your example. I still have some left so will serve with sausages.
DeleteAccording to the picture, it seems to me that this is what we call mangold. I usually make it in soup.
ReplyDeleteI did put some in our soup recently. Shredded quite finely, it cooked in seconds.
DeleteWe had our first Chard last night..the stems added when making a suce with onions and other veg, and the leaves just torn and wilted on top, last minute
ReplyDeleteI tend to put the stems on the compost; they taste of earth. But the leaves are delicious.
DeleteI enjoy most veg, but really don't like spinach, so only have it occasionally and buy it frozen. I've read that most greens have more vitamins when frozen than when fresh. Guess I'm not a spring greens fan as I don't like Chard or Kale.
ReplyDeleteI also buy frozen Spinach, as pellets made from whole leaves. They are so useful.
DeleteI fear for that lonely gherkin and what is about to happen to it. Poor thing!
ReplyDeleteIt paid the price.
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ReplyDeleteI suspect that I may be one of very few who get excited at the arrival of 'Spring Greens' in the shops."
Nope, love them... and the sprouts from blown cabbages and chard. Cook, served cold with a dressing of sesame oil and light soy sauce [or balsamic if you've run out/haven't any]
Now, out to pick some chard!!
I always used to leave the stems from my greenery plants; they usually gave some delicious sproutings in spring that were almost better than the original plant
DeleteI love spring greens and that looks just my sort of lunch Cro. If I lived in your road I would plead to be invited over to share it (I would have given you warning so that you could have bought two MandS packs)
ReplyDeleteYou'd be extremely welcome Weave, we could eat our greens together.
DeleteThis is another household where excitement levels go up when spring greens appear in the shops!
ReplyDeleteLovely, dark green delicious leaves, just prefect.
Cabbage, Kale, Spinach, in fact any of the Brassica family is appreciated in my family.
A tiny touch of common or garden malt vinegar on lightly steamed cabbage is really lovely, but my all time favourite is the 'sprout tops', the oft thrown away leaves for the top of the stalk, they're truly delicious!
We buy our sprouts from the local farm shop, they keep the leaves on the sprout stalks, which for me is just perfect! X
Sprouts are a great crop to grow. Not only do you get your Sprouts for Christmas, but later (if you leave a few of the smaller ones) you get a whole new crop of tender sproutings that just go on and on.
DeleteLeaves 'from' not 'for' the top of the sprout stalk!
ReplyDeleteI must be too excited at the thought of spring greens, I've lost the ability to type! X
I knew what you meant.
DeleteI am not a big fan of cooked greens,
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone. I've always thought of myself as a man apart, that I like greens so much.
DeleteSpring greens are always delicious. Now that salad season is nearly here, fresh greens will feature largely on my menu.
ReplyDeleteSo they should. 'Greens' should be on everyone's menu at this time of year.
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