This recipe was forwarded by Kristen & Rob.  I am also forwarding their comments.  I made this last week for a pot luck - using collards - and it was a hit!  I didn't have bread crumbs or anything to sub in but it still worked.  Thanks, you two, for the new idea on how to use greens!

Notes from Kristen:

Rob asked me to send you the link to the recipe he uses for greens. It is our go-to dish to eat-up large volumes of greens we don't know what to do with.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/kale-gratin-with-pancetta-recipe/index.html

Caveats:

1. The recipe calls for kale but he's used essentially any non-cabbage, non-lettuce green.

2. He uses 2-3 times the amount of greens specified without increasing the proportion of other ingredients, parboiling really reduces the amount of greens

3. Can substitute milk for cream

4. He usually substitutes 1-2 slices of bacon for amount of pancetta specified

5. Fresh grated nutmeg really makes a difference vs. dried ground, but not essential

The recipe:

Kale Gratin with Pancetta

Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 to 1 1/3 pounds kale, stems stripped and chopped, about 6 cups
• Salt
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 pound pancetta, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 cup cream
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
• 1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg, eyeball it
• Black pepper
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano

Directions

Preheat the broiler but place the oven rack on the second shelf down from the heat source.

Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a deep skillet or pot, add the kale and salt and cook 5 to 6 minutes; drain and dry the greens.
Return the skillet to the stove over medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil and pancetta. Crisp the pancetta and add the cream and garlic. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper then reduce 7 to 8 minutes to about 1/2 to 2/3 cup. Add cooked greens to cream and stir to coat evenly. Transfer to shallow casserole.
Toss with breadcrumbs with the remaining 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil. Season the crumbs with salt and pepper and combine with cheese. Place the casserole on the second shelf under broiler and brown breadcrumbs and cheese for 5 minutes.

Mashed-Potato Cakes with Onions and Kale

A member recommended this last year. Sounds great. This is from Cooking Light.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 patties)

Ingredients

• 12 cups water
• 1 bunch kale, trimmed (about 4 ounces)
• 2 2/3 cups (1-inch) cubed Yukon gold or red potato (about 1 pound)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter or stick margarine
• 3 cups diced onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
• 1/4 cup sliced green onions
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Cooking spray
• Sage sprigs (optional)

Preparation

Bring water to a boil in a Dutch oven; add kale. Cover and cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until tender. Remove kale with a slotted spoon, reserving cooking liquid. Chop kale and set aside.

Add potato to reserved cooking liquid in pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until tender. Drain; partially mash potatoes. Stir in kale and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Preheat oven to 400°.

Heat oil and butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, diced onion, and chopped sage. Cook 13 minutes or until browned. Combine potato mixture, onion mixture, green onions, and pepper. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Divide potato mixture into 8 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty. Place patties on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes.

Preheat broiler.

Broil patties for 5 minutes or until browned. Garnish with sage sprigs, if desired.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

246 (26% from fat)

Fat:

7g (sat 2.4g,mono 3.4g,poly 0.6g)

Protein:

5.1g

Carbohydrate:

43.2g

Fiber:

5.1g

Cholesterol:

8mg

Iron:

2.6mg

Sodium:

495mg

Calcium:

87mg

Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 1999

Smothered Mushrooms and Kale Rachael Ray Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray

We made this last year - it's very tasty and a nice change from plain greens/olive oil. You can also fold in a little goat cheese in the end (or other soft cheese) for an extra twist.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
• 2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 24 small crimini mushrooms, wiped clean, halved
• 1 bunch kale, trimmed, stems removed and chopped
• 1/4 cup Marsala or other sherry
• Salt and pepper

Directions

Heat a medium skillet with extra-virgin olive oil and butter over medium to medium-high heat. When fat is hot, add garlic and mushrooms and place a lid which is too small for the skillet down into the pan, pressing and smothering the mushrooms. Cook 7 to 8 minutes, stirring once, then wilt the kale into the pan, turning it with tongs to combine with mushrooms. Smother the greens for 1 to 2 minutes, then deglaze the pan with Marsala and season the mixture with salt and pepper, to taste.

What to do with all those Stems

If you don't want to saute your stems or eat the greens, you have a few options:
1. Make veggie stock or soup stock. Mostly in the fall, when the hens are processed, I make a lot of soup stock. But you can also make a straight veggie stock. Check the recipe blog for recipes. I can it in pint-sized containers and store in the pantry and use when needed. It's cheaper than the box stock you buy from the store and you know what's in it.
2. Feed them to your goat or chicken
3. Compost the waste. Watch warnings from me though - sometimes we'll get a fungus that you might not want to bring over to your garden so you might not want to compost unless you know that you're maintaining a hot pile.

I don't suggest running these through your garbage disposal. We had a member shove a large amount of kale ribs into her disposal last year and she had to call the plumber to snake the drain. No fun.

You can always bring veggie scraps here and feed them to the goats. Just remember - no stringy uncooked things like cucumber peelings for the chickens. They don't have teeth to break up the strings. Also no moldy veggies.

What to Do With Your Greens

This post is contributed by Marnie Reid - thanks for the easy suggestions, Marnie!

Two ideas….

1. Salad….a must for every dinner this time of year, use all the greens (stronger flavors in smaller bites)

2. Chicken, sautéed in olive oil with salt and pepper and any other seasonings you like, top with mixed greens (arugula, chard, kale, spinach, mustard, onions, garlic---whatever you like), once soft, mix in goat cheese and put on top of cooked chicken

3. At the end of the week when your greens are going south and you are feeling guilty that you haven’t eaten them—sauté them (any, per above) in butter oil or water, add in herbs, in another bowl mix 6 eggs 1 cup milk, cheese of your choice (I like feta or goat, with a little cheddar or mont jack), season, mix all together and cook 35-45 minutes until golden on top

Quiche and salad for lunch or breakfast….

Next week….lasagna recipe with greens.

Marnie

Basic Greens

We eat greens almost every night. You can add any spice you like. Sometimes we add a little curry powder. Sometimes some thai paste. Sometimes garlic or onions. But generally we only use salt and oil.

1. Prepare your greens. If they have large, woody ribs, devein the leaves by slicing them out. I now skip that and fold the leaf in half holding the soft part of the leaf with my left hand and pulling up on the stalk with my right. This removes the woody part quickly. You can then slice your greens in 1" sections if you'd like. To do this uniformly, pile up a large stack of leaves and roll them and then slice. I also skip this part and just cook them whole.

2. Wash your greens thoroughly. If they're really dirty (after a rain) I'll soak in a sink and drain and soak again and drain and then spin in a salad spinner. Again, if I'm really in a hurry, I just place the greens in a colander and let them drip a little. The water helps them steam and cook anyway.

3. Turn on the heat in a large skillet. Pour in a circle of oil (about 2 or 3 T). If you're using onions or garlic, be careful not to overheat the pan because you'll burn the garlic quickly. Quickly add the garlic and then the greens. Toss. Salt using a salt grinder and sea salt (1 - 3 turns). Toss. Cook until they're deep green and wilted. Add about 1/2 c water, cover and turn off the heat. They're ready to serve.

If you cook your greens too long they're mushy and not very flavorful.

Citrus Collards with Raisins

Citrus Collards with Raisins

I don't remember which recipe book we found this in but it's a good one. This is a nice dish to take with you to a party - no one will believe it's collards and it doesn't need to be refrigerated. It's also a nice way to serve greens for children as it's a little sweet and salty.

1 large bunch of collard greens

Coarse salt

½ tablespoon olive oil

1 garlic clove minced

1/3 cup raisins

2 medium oranges

Remove stems from greens. Roll and cut leaves into thin strips. Rinse. In large pot bring 3 quarts to boil with salt. Add greens, boil 10 minutes. Drain. In sauté pan sauté garlic for 30 for a minute. Add greens, raisins and a pinch of salt. Sauté for three minutes. Section oranges, add them to greens and heat them up for 30 seconds. Serve immediately or room temp.

Sausage, pumpkin & veggie quiche

What to do with all of the eggs, frozen squash and frozen veggies during the winter? Here's a pretty quick recipe which is very tasty. Serve with Easy Skillet Potatoes:

1 lb. ground pork (you could use any meat here but the pork was tasty)
3 - 4 cloves of garlic, diced
2 cups pre-cooked pumpkin (I cook my pumpkins in the fall and scoop out the flesh and divide in 2 cup bags and throw in the freezer for future use)
1/2 lb. frozen chard (could use frozen collards, spinach, kale or broccoli)
3 - 5 Danver's half-long carrots, cut in 1/2" chunks (we dug these from the garden in January)
4 eggs
1 cup shredded cheese
About 1/8 cup cream
1 pie pastry

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350.
2. Place your pie pastry in a large pie plate and pre-cook until it's lightly brown. Remove from oven.
3. While the pastry is cooking, saute the garlic in a few T of canola oil. Add the ground pork and saute. When the pork is no longer pink, add in the pumpkin and saute for maybe 5 minutes - until most of the water has evaporated and the pumpkin is evenly distributed. Add a couple of grinds of sea salt from your grinder.
4. Set pork/pumpkin mixture aside.
5. Saute the carrots in a little oil until lightly brown.
6. Add carrots to the pork mixture and stir.
7. Cut the chard into 1/4 " strips and saute with a couple of drops of sesame oil. If this is chard from the freezer, you just need to warm this up as it was blanched prior to freezing. If this is fresh, I'd saute for 5 minutes or so.
8. Add the chard to the bowl.
9. Spoon all of the ingredients into the pastry crust.
10. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and cream. Stir in the cheese.
11. Add the egg mixture to the pie pan and mix in a little.
12. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes and reduce heat to 350 for about 30 minutes - until the quiche sets up and is lightly brown on top.