Don’t Throw That Away! Get the most out of your food!
Recently I was gifted some fresh produce from Coach Nancy’s portion of a farm share since she was away competing (way to go Coach Nancy!). There were vegetables in this package that I recognized: spinach, potatoes, green leaf lettuce, garlic, etc. Admittedly there were a few things that I wasn’t 100% sure of, so I did what any normal person does these days and I Googled them! Actually I used the Google lens feature on my phone, which allowed me to take a picture of each item and then Google would tell me what it was. It turned out that I was in possession of some fresh turnips and radishes equipped with greens attached. Again, I have to admit a little bit of ignorance when it came to how I should prepare these items. There were faint memories of having consumed these foods before, but I couldn’t tell you how they were prepared other than maybe having thinly sliced radish in a salad. So, what did I do? I looked up how turnips and radishes are typically prepared.
I discovered that, of course, there are multiple ways these could be prepared- raw, baked, pan fried, as well as other methods. In the end, I thinly sliced a couple of raw radishes to use in salads, or maybe as a part of a stir fry and cubed and baked the remaining radishes and turnips along with some of the potatoes. Surpisingly, in my opinion, the turnips and radishes had a hint of sweetness that was a nice change-up to the typical roasted potatoe.
But, this is not the point of my reflection today! After using the main parts of the radishes and turnips I was left with these bundles of greens from the tops of the plants that I was simply prepared to throw away. Then it hit me! I remembered an epiphony I experienced a while back regarding the leafy greens atop celery stalks. Who knew you could simply clean them and add them into a fresh salad? Or cook them into other meal concoctions? It was news to me. But I thought well maybe the same is true for the green, leafy portions of these veggies as well. Sure enough I found plenty of information on how turnip and radish greens could be prepared and enjoyed. One suggestion was to pan fry them in bacon grease. While that sounded delicious (I mean doesn’t bacon make everything a little better?), I thought maybe I could cook with a slightly healthier fat such as a little olive oil. But what about the flavor of the bacon? Well, why not cook some bacon separately and crumble some of it to add to the greens? So here is what I came up with…..
First, I cooked some bacon on a sheet pan in the oven until it was crispy. Transferred it to a plate where sandwiched between a couple of paper towels I attempted to remove some of the extra grease. Once cooled I chopped the bacon into what I felt were “crumble” size pieces. Next, I chopped some of the fresh garlic that I received in the package of fresh vegetables. With a small amount of olive oil in a pan I lightly browned the garlic. With the radish and turnip greens washed and cut, I added them to the pan until they began to wilt. Lastly, I added the bacon crumbles and seasoned everything with some black pepper.
Accompanied by a piece of boneless chicken breast, this green side dish was very enjoyable. It was good on its own, but I did add a small amount of a lemon vinagrette dressing that I had available and I thought it topped it off well. If you were to use a freshly squeezed lemon wedge I think it would be the perfect compliment to the flavors in this dish.
So, just a simple reminder that sometimes those pieces of food that we push to the side and often throw away might be the hidden gem that opens your eyes to a world of additional palatable possibilities!
