On Turnip Greens, and How to Make Them Tasty

Do you want to know something funny?

I used to be a picky eater. When I was little, I didn't like: cheese (in all forms except for pizza - because I didn't realize that white stuff on top was a form of the dreaded dairy product), milk, eggs, beans, green beans, most other vegetables save carrots, and oh, the list goes on. As I got older and my mom started cooking with fresher veggies, I developed a taste for zucchini and asparagus, and I would eat cheese in certain forms (mac and cheese, on pasta, etc.). I went to college, and started to appreciate cheese even more (you can't be around Mark and NOT like cheese). But just in probably the last 2 years, I've really branched out. It's because I want to, not because someone is making me - there are no "Okay, if you eat 6 green beans, you can have dessert" discussions, no "But I don't LIKE that" coming from me. My list of things that I do not like has become very short.

Things April Does Not Like:
-beans (I try, and try, and try, and I just can't do it.)
-peas (see above.)

Things April Is Still A Bit Wary of But Hasn't Given Up Hope On Because She Has Yet to Find a Really, Really Good Promising Recipe and/or Hasn't Received Any In Her C.S.A Box:
-beets (Lissa swears I'll like them)
-brussel sprouts (I've never actually had a brussel sprout, so I can't make a judgment call - and besides, they're so pretty!)
-turnips
-cauliflower
-parsnips

Greens used to make the top of the April Does Not Like list, but after I got my CSA, I became considerably more open-minded, and they moved down to the second list. I waited for about 3 months, and then came the faithful day - turnip greens showed up in my CSA box. Turnips, for some reason, scared me more than others. I hear of delightful recipes made with Swiss chard all the time, I already like kale chips pretty well, but the turnip/mustard/collard greens, I was terribly wary of.

But at the start of my CSA adventure, I promised myself that I would branch out, try new things, learn to like vegetables that I'd never even given a chance. I also refuse to waste CSA veggies. So I started my search for the perfect recipe.

Not surprisingly, it ended with a quiche. It's funny - quiche is made of all the things I hated when I was a little girl: eggs, milk, cheese, and vegetables (and the occasional meat.) And it happens to be one my my favorite foods now, and one of the most frequently-made dishes in my kitchen. I've gotten so comfortable with quiche that I don't even refer to a recipe anymore :) (A far cry from my quiche-gone-splat-on-the-floor from this past May...)

I started with most of an onion and a big clove of garlic, sauteeing in a big pan with butter.

Then I chopped some mushrooms and added them to the onions.

And then came the greens. They didn't look nearly as daunting as I felt that they were...

I roughly chopped them, and threw them in the pan with some more butter.

After sauteing for a minute or two, I put the lid on to let them wilt.

While the greens were wilting, I mixed together the liquid mixture. I used 5 pretty farm eggs...

 ...1/2 cup milk, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper.

After that was all whisked together, I checked on the greens, etc. They were perfectly wilted :)

 Then I mixed it all together, plus about 4 oz. cheese (which sounds like not all that much, but it's a good bit!), in a big bowl.

And dumped it in a pie crust. (Not homemade - I fail. I need to make a whole bunch of pie crusts at once, and freeze them.)

Into the oven at 375 degrees for about 35-40 minutes, and voila!

Lovely, cheesy quiche with healthy greens! What a success.

My next challenge will be to not mask the actual flavor of the greens with all that cheese and eggs!

An adventure in firsts:

A few weeks ago, I got some apples in my CSA box. My initial reaction was to buy caramel sauce, and make a lovely snack to take to work with me. Sadly, I couldn't find any caramel sauce in stores whose first ingredient WASN'T high fructose corn syrup, which I try to avoid.

So I said to myself, hmmm. I've been cooking a lot lately... trying new things... I'm sure it's not that hard ... I'll just make some myself! So, I bought some brown sugar and went home to find a recipe.

I quickly found out that contrary to what I originally thought ... caramel sauce is not made of brown sugar.

So I scratched that, went to Epicurious (which is my favorite), got out my sugar jar and assembled the rest of the ingredients.

It's pretty simple. Water, sugar, cream, and butter.

And here's what you do:

Stir 1 1/2 c. sugar and 1/2 cup water in heavy, large saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves.

Then you increase the heat (I went somewhere between med-hi and high), and boil without until the syrup turns a golden amber color (around 12 or so minutes, maybe a little less.) (This is modified from the original recipe, which called for deep amber. The comments suggested that you stick with golden. It was a good idea.) You can occasionally brush down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush, if needed, and swirl the pan to mix.

Just boiling...

Starting to turn...

And this is the color I stopped at.

Remove from heat, whisk in butter. (I stirred rather than whisked, and that may have been a bad idea.)

Gradually add cream (mixture will bubble vigorously), and stir over low heat until smooth. Cool to lukewarm before serving.

When I stirred, I couldn't get it completely smooth - a big clump of sugar stuck to the spoon, but I figured it would be okay. I was right.

Yummy bowl of caramel!

So then I ate my little snack of apples with caramel sauce - and was disappointed. The sauce was way too delicate for raw, tart apples. So I decided - I needed to make a pie.

I had a spare refrigerated crust that needed to be used. I know it's lazy, but I really didn't have 2 or 3 hours to make one, and I wanted a quick and easy pie.

Now here's the "first" part: I didn't use a recipe. Once again - I figured, I've been cooking/baking a lot, I've made apple pies before, how hard can it be? So I made a pie (but not the crust) from scratch.

I used about 4 apples, thinly sliced, and put them in the crust. Dumbly, I didn't think to add the sugar and spices before, so I just sort of mixed it all up in the crust before baking it. I used probably 1/2 c. sugar, maybe a tsp. of cinnamon, maybe more, and a shake or two of nutmeg. Then I cut up some butter and dotted it all over the apples. I baked it (I think) at like 375 for about 30 minutes or so? I honestly don't remember.

And here it is:

By all means, it was not the best apple pie I've ever had. It was incredibly simple, and could have been a little wetter. But it was PERFECT with the caramel sauce. The simplicity of the pie was perfect with the sweetness of the sauce, and it was a delightful little snack. And, I was pretty proud of myself for not using a recipe.

I'm getting braver in the kitchen. It's a bit scary sometimes, and I get nervous before seeing (and tasting) the final product. But I'm growing and stretching and usually the food is good and we are pleased. And it makes me happy :)