Cooking with fresh greens

[Richie111]

I am trying out a few vegetarian recipes today that are based on fresh greens. Specifically, I'm dealing with fresh spinach, collard greens, and kale for use in Indian Saag dishes.

I understand the importance of washing these greens before using them as there is a lot of sand and dirt in there. However, I am spending a lot of time "patting dry" these pounds and pounds (something like 12 lbs today) of greens. Is this drying process important and what benefit does it provide?

Secondly, some recipes require blanching of the greens while other recipes for the same dish don't mention it. I think I know have a basic idea how to blanch, but I'm not 100% sure I understand what value it provides. (Has something to do with lasting longer in the refrigerator I thought...Maybe I'm way off).

Thanks for your help.

Richie

[Suzanne F]

Drying is important if you will be sauteeing: if the greens are not dry, you will stew them rather than saute. Here's a truc: after you shake off as much water as you can, put them in a clean pillowcase (not fabric softener), tie it closed, and spin it around your head a few rotations.

As for blanching: this reduces sharpness and bitterness in some highly-flavored greens. It also can protect the color, and soften tough leaves.

[Jinmyo]

Also, when sauteeing, dumping wet greens into the pan will create an explosion of angry oil beads that aim for your eyes and vital bits.

With the swinging around the head truc, best step outside.

If you blanch, then shock in ice water to keep the colour stable.

[slbunge]

I cook with greens quite a bit and when sauteeing (as opposed to stewing) I usually wash the greens, spin them in a salad spinner, and then quickly pat them dry. (The nifty pillowcase idea would combine spin and patting dry). I don't spend lots of time patting because I usually start early in the afternoon to me time to let them sit on the counter for an hours or two before cooking. Takes a little planning but it is better than individually drying leaves of kale.

[phaelon56]

It may be folk lore but my African-American friends all have a particular technique for preparation that supposedly makes the older, tougher leaves a bit more tender. This is always in preparation for stewing collards or similar greens so it's a bit OT re/sauteeing but I find it to be of interest.

After washing and cleaning (cleaning includes cutting off the bigger, tougher portions of stem), the leaves are rolled up from end to end - you can stack a small pile and roll several at a time. Roll them tight into a cigar like cylinder and then slice on the diagonal before placing in the pot. I don't care for the stems so I usually remove most of the stems from all the leaves.

I have no idea whether this practice really helps but it's so common that I'm inclined to think there's merit to it.

[Jinmyo]

Sure, that's chiffonade. How else would one cut collard greens?

[gus_tatory]

I am trying out a few vegetarian recipes today that are based on fresh greens...

However, I am spending a lot of time "patting dry" these pounds and pounds (something like 12 lbs today) of greens. Is this drying process important and what benefit does it provide?

Secondly, some recipes require blanching of the greens...

Thanks for your help.

Richie

hi Richie--

the only way i can think of speeding up the greens-drying is a centrifuge (aka salad spinner).

IMHO, and since you asked , the greens you mentioned, as well as a lot of Asian veg, benefit from flash-frying in iron woks for brief times.

regards,

gus

[Richie111]

Thanks for all your tips and info.

Cooking was a success today. I decided not to blanch anything, but I'll try it out next time to see the difference in taste and color.

-Richie

[Bicycle Lee]

here's my favorite way to cook collards, kale, and mustard greens...

saute them in some olive oil and garlic and when they begin to wilt slightly, add some reduced poultry stock...just enough to steam them and coat them. Hmmm so good, good for you and inexpensive.

[fifi]

I second the use of reduced poultry stock. I try to keep a jar of chicken stock that has been reduced to a glace and stored in a half cup wide mouthed Mason jar. It is sort of like a hockey puck since it is so concentrated. A tablespoon of that stuff stirred in gives a wonderful silky texture to the final product while adding considerable flavor.

[blueapron]

Blanching is to preserve the bright green color. In the south we usally dont blanch collards or kale because the darker color is desirable , however you can blanch tougher greens because it shortens the cooking time. But I would not be caught dead doing this!

Definitly get a salad spinner(oxo makes a good home model) or you could buy prewashed and precut at supermarkets-another shortcut.

spinach cooks so quickly that blanching just is not necc unless for a special recipe.

[Malawry]

Some people blanch spinach before sauteeing because sauteed raw spinach expresses so much water, it doesn't look so good on the plate. (If you blanch your spinach, you can squeeze it dry before finishing it in the saute pan and there will be virtually none of the unattractive spinach water on your plate.)

I don't generally do this, but it does work well.

[bucktown_boffo]

Some people blanch spinach before sauteeing because sauteed raw spinach expresses so much water, it doesn't look so good on the plate. (If you blanch your spinach, you can squeeze it dry before finishing it in the saute pan and there will be virtually none of the unattractive spinach water on your plate.)

I don't generally do this, but it does work well.

Can spinach handle a blanching and a subsequent sautee? When I cook spinach, it's almost always in hot pan that I just finished cooking some sort of meat in, and the spinach usually cooks in less than a minute, way less actually. What are the overcooking issues with spinach?

[phaelon56]

Sure, that's chiffonade. How else would one cut collard greens?

Actually.... a rank amateur cook like me would just tear them in chunks as many recipes suggest or simply stack them and cut on the diagonal. I've only seen one or two recipes that mention rolling them.

Keep in mind that I'm self taught, mostly by watching and doing and have never read a book on all the fundamentals of cooking (I know... I really should get around to that!).

I'm just curious about the effect of the rolling. The impression I've been given is that the rolling is not just for the convenience of cutting, but rather, that it actually makes the tougher leaves more tender.

[Malawry]

Can spinach handle a blanching and a subsequent sautee?

Yes. Get a large pot of boiling, salted water. Have spinach, a spider, and an ice-water bath with a sieve sitting in it (no ice in the sieve) ready. Quickly, now: dunk the spinach in the boiling water by the handful and push each handful down with the spider to immerse. Once it's all in the boiling water, use the spider to pull it all out and put it in the sieve in the ice water. Leave it in the ice water for only a couple of seconds and pull the spinach out by removing the sieve. Squeeze dry by hand, or twist up in some cheesecloth. I usually use cheesecloth to drain it. You can dump the ice water from the bowl and let the spinach rest in the cheesecloth in the sieve over the bowl until you're ready to eat. (This can be done many hours in advance...probably even a day or so!)

When you want the spinach, heat some butter or oil with aromatics and add the blanched spinach. Season and just cook until it's heated through. Voila, no gray-green water on the plate.

[blueapron]

You can technically blanch anything, but remember that you will lose alot of the great nutrients of the spinach into the water. I guess it comes down to color verses nutrition, you make the call. It is easy to avoid the water issue be either laying the spinach on a couple of paper towels for a few seconds or simply by using tongs to lift the spinach out of the pan and squeezing rather hard with the tongs to get the water out and back to the pan before you go to the plate.

Try not to just pour the contents out of the pan and onto a plate, use a spoon or tongs.

[Wolfert]

I have found that when I saute a large amount of leafy greens, there are basically five ways to get them down to manageable size so they'll fit into my skillet: (1) hand-chop them, then let them sit awhile in a ceramic colander to wilt; (2) parboil them, drain, squeeze and saute; (3) wilt them by the handful with just the water clinging to their leaves then squeeze them dry and saute ; (4) steam them, drain, squeeze and saute; (5) put them in a ceramic colander, sprinkle with salt, toss, then leave them for an hour while they express their surface moisture. Rinse off the salt and squeeze dry before sauteeing. All of the methods will reduce leafy greens to about one quarter their bulk. My favorite method is the last, a method I learned in the eastern mediterranean. It is particularly good when preparing greens for pies. In all cases the greens keep their color, flavor and nutrients.

Edited May 18, 2004 by Wolfert (log)