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 ...

Ingredients

1 slice of bacon
1 bunch of mustard greens (~200g)
Kosher salt
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 oz feta cheese, cubed
2 pecans

Instructions

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!

📖 Recipe