Over the few years I've gotten familiar with greens -- kale, collards, spinach, and chard. These are completely new additions to my diet. I have no memories of mom buying, cooking or eating greens as a child. I had no point of reference on how to cook them. And honestly, I had no interest in them until I started buying more local produce from farmer's markets and CSAs.
Now I get them regularly in my share and coming up with a way to prepare them is challenging. I mean, look. It's just a pile of leaves!
Out of all the greens, I've had the most success with kale because I learned to love it raw and include it in dishes for my family without them really noticing.
These mustard greens posed more of a challenge for me.
I decided to focus on a single dish because my family isn't quite ready to embrace them yet. Geesh, I'm barely ready to embrace them! But it's time to take the mustard green leap.
I turned to my trusty slice of bacon to help cook and flavor them. Mustard greens have a very strong flavor compared with other greens -- at least in my opinion. They are are pretty bitter and peppery.
I was quite surprised by this salad. The combination of feta, bacon and pecans were the perfect compliment to the greens. I would eat this again in a heartbeat. The only thing I'd do differently is chop the greens more before cooking. I left them pretty much whole and they become kind of stringy.
Here's what I did ...
- 1 slice of bacon
- 1 bunch of mustard greens (~200g)
- Kosher salt
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 oz feta cheese, cubed
- 2 pecans
Wash the greens and remove any thick stems. Give them a couple of good chops. I didn't do this and I regretted it as the leaves do get slightly chewy and hard to cut once cooked.
Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and fry the bacon until nice and crisp. Remove and set aside on a paper towel to dry.
Add the cut mustard greens to the skillet tossing with the bacon fat. They will almost immediately begin to wilt. Sprinkle with a little kosher salt and a splash of vinegar.
Remove the greens once they wilt to your desired doneness. It won't take long. -- 2-3 minutes max.
Chop the cooked bacon.
Top the greens with feta cheese, pecans and bacon.
Voila! Warm Mustard Green Salad With Feta, Pecans and Bacon!
I still can't believe I came up with and made this dish and it was good!
| Servings | Amt per Serving | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Entire Recipe | |||
| Calories | Fat | Fiber | WWPs | |
| 260 | 19g | 8g | old: 6 | new: 7 |
| Sugar | Sat Fat | Carbs | Protein | |
| 7g | 8g | 15g | 14g | |
I tried this recipe last night but used stuff I had on hand. Thought I'd let you know it was just as delicious with baby spinach and sliced almonds. Definitely making again; will try it with mustard greens, which I've never had.
Eat them the southern way! Throw them in a pot with some hog jowl or country ham, chicken broth, season with salt and pepper and onion. Cook for a couple hours. Yum!!
Now I know what to do with all my leftover Pecans.
I heard some people put greens in a bag with some oil and rub them to take out some of the bitter, strong taste?? I usually eat kale and don't do this but I have thought of doing this with mustard greens.
I massage my kale salads and it really does do wonders. I'm sure it would be good with mustard greens to. Next time I get them I'll be trying them raw. 🙂