The goat cheese, salmon, and mushrooms are all optional.
I just wasn’t sure how well a recipe for “Greens with Some Other Stuff” would go over. This recipe is really “how to use up what you have in your fridge” with greens.
Our first CSA box ever included kale (use it all the time), swiss chard (used it once in my life), collard greens and arugula (never had them before). I knew I would need some new recipes beyond just having sausage, kale and bean soup and green smoothies every week!
The day after the box arrived, we had greens (I think they were collards) in our eggs.
We had greens in our smoothies.
And I felt it was important to have greens in our main course at dinner. I wanted to use a lot of them, right away.
I had looked up some new recipes, but they all seemed to be about sauteeing a pile of greens and leaving them that way on the plate, as a side dish. I didn’t think that would go over very well wit the fam, so I began to imagine differences.
In my mind, I sauteed some onion, pepper and garlic (because that’s always a good way to start dinner, mmmm!). I knew I had two packages of mushrooms in the fridge, so they made a prominent appearance.
I crammed as many greens as I could into the cast iron pan. This was going to be a green meal, doggone it!
What I had in my imaginary pan so far reminded me of a good base for spaghetti sauce, and something my family wouldn’t eat on its own (see “pile of greens on a plate,” above). I remembered that I had 2/3 of a jar of tomato sauce waiting to be used, as well. A fun benefit of having my tomato sauce in glass jars is that I can use what I want without dirtying a dish to save the leftovers. In went some tomato sauce, about a cup.
Now I knew we needed some spices, so a palmful of pizza seasoning quickly followed the sauce. I was pretty happy with what I had so far, but I wasn’t sure what to do with it. Serve it over pasta? Almost too mundane, and plus, I was kind of grain-free at the time. I needed to make two changes: add a protein and figure out how to present it on the plate (see “pile of greens” problem, above).
Incorporating cheese was a no-brainer, but I was also about to fall asleep in my bed with my imaginary pot, so I knew I couldn’t soak beans or rice overnight. What options did I have that I could start in the afternoon?
I slept on it.
Waking up with mushrooms and tomato sauce in my hair, I figured out the perfect solution.
First, don’t sleep with your food.
(Just kidding.)
I added a can of salmon to the mix, gave cheese choices to the fam, and wrapped it all up in the grain-free crepes we love from Cara’s grain-free menu planner. Ta da! Dinner.
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Italian Salmon (or Mushroom) with Greens and Goat Cheese
| CSA Greens Recipe: Italian Salmon (or Mushrooms) with Greens and Goat Cheese |
- 2-4 Tbs. your favorite fat (olive oil, coconut oil, lard, tallow, butter)
- 8 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced
- 1 medium sweet onion, sliced thinly
- ½ colored pepper (or mix), sliced thinly
- 8-10 large leaves kale, swiss chard, or equivalent smaller greens (maybe 4 cups?)
- 2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 c. tomato sauce (add more if it seems too dry)
- 1-2 tsp. Italian or pizza seasoning
- (or use pizza or spaghetti sauce in place of the tomato sauce and seasoning)
- 1 small can (6 oz.) wild Alaskan salmon, drained
- 1-2 slices mozzarella cheese per eater
- goat cheese
- Saute mushrooms and onions in lots of fat until tender and as caramelized as you have time for.
- Add peppers, if using.
- In the meantime, wash the leafy greens and remove the hard center rib (for kale, swiss chard – you can chop the center rib separately and add with the onions and peppers).
- Chop rather finely; I stack up the leaves and make vertical, then horizontal slices, then chop through the pile a few times back and forth with a large knife.
- Add all the greens to the pot and stir around for a minute, then cover to steam for 3-5 minutes. (It looks like a lot of green, but trust me, it will cook down.)
- Once the greens are wilted and stirred up with everything else, add the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Pour the sauce and seasoning in and stir and heat until fragrant, Italian-restaurant smells are filling your kitchen.
- Add salmon, if using, and heat through.
- Serve in a crepe with a slice of mozzarella cheese on the bottom.
- The hot greens mixture should melt the cheese, or you can toast the crepe in a frying pan to melt it.
- Crumble goat cheese to taste on top if you like.
- This dish could also be served over rice or pasta, or simply eaten in a bowl. (Or as a pile of greens on a plate, but proceed with caution.)
This dish was designed to accomplish two ends: use some CSA greens and only use other things I had on hand, preferably without thawing anything out.
You could leave out the peppers or mushrooms, switch the salmon for cooked beans, any cooked meat (sausage, perhaps?), or just leave a vegetarian mushroom base like I did for my husband before I added salmon for the rest of the family.
Also, don’t worry about the meal looking like a pile of greens.
You’ll think you’re adding a massive pile of greens, that your dish is totally green-centric, but then they’ll cook down so much that it’s not “greens with other stuff” anymore but honestly “stuff with some greens.”
You might not even taste them all that much.
Now my problem is that I used up most of our greens too fast! I have more swiss chard recipes I want to try, but I have to wait until next week’s new delivery…
More ideas to use up your CSA greens HERE!
If you enjoyed Cara’s grain-free menu planner, check out her eBooks:
- “What Can I Eat Now?” 30 days on GAPS an introductory eBook ($20)
- Freezer cooking guide to grain-free meal plans ($18)
- Best of grain-free meal plans vol. 1 ($12)
What are you doing with your CSA greens this year?
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This recipe shared at Fight Back Friday and Life as Mom’s FISH recipe swap and Frugal Fridays.
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That looks pretty yummy! At my house I don’t have a problem serving cooked greens on a plate, but I try to make them tasty!
Greens are so delicious and nutritious. They are definitely a staple in my diet.
A recipe that I use for collard greens about once a week is this:
Wash some collard greens about 4 big leaves per person or more smaller leaves.
Use the raw leaves as a tortilla replacement and fill them up with whatever you like in a wrap. I do retried beans and some peppers or tomatoes. I usually need to use 2 leaves for the wrap to keep the filling in, but other people might be successful with only one.
When using something hot in the wrap, the collard greens will cook a little but will still retain some crunch.
P.S. First time commenter. I just started reading your blog and I love it! You’ve shared a lot of good information on here, so thank you! I can’t wait to try making some home made yogurt and stock!
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Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship Reply:
June 11th, 2012 at 8:24 pm
Awesome grain-free wrap ideas!
Good luck with the yogurt; you’ll love it!
Katie
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Here’s a recipe for Spicy Black-eyed Pea and Collard Green Soup. I think you’ve said you’re not afraid to serve soup in the summer
This recipe serves 2; feel free to double and triple.
oil for sautéing veggies
½ onion, diced
¼ cup diced green bell pepper
1 clove garlic, minced (or garlic powder)
½ cup dried black-eyed peas, picked over and rinsed
2 cups chicken broth, divided
½ teaspoon dried thyme (divided)
¼ teaspoon oregano (divided)
¼ pound collard greens (or as many as you feel like), tough stems removed and greens chopped
¼ teaspoon chili powder (to taste)
¼- ½ teaspoon salt (to taste)
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Hot sauce, optional
Sauté onions in oil for about 5 minutes, until they begin to brown. Add the green pepper and garlic, and cook, stirring, for 3 more minutes.
Add the black-eyed peas, 1 ½ cups broth, thyme, and oregano. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover, and cook until peas are tender, about 45-55 minutes.
Once the peas are tender, add all remaining ingredients; cover and cook for at least 25 minutes to allow flavors to develop.
I’m sure it would be great with some sausage added in too. Hope you find ways to keep using your greens!
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Your recipe looks so good. Greens are not something I’m familiar cooking with so this was so helpful. I loved seeing the addition of the salmon! My dad and brother are actually in Alaska right now commercial salmon fishing. Eating/buying wild salmon does support small family businesses!
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So far we’ve done rainbow chard whole grain pizza, napa cabbage asian wraps, your tuscan sausage/white bean/kale soup, green smoothies, and of course, lots of blanching and freezing to save for later. It’s been an exciting first CSA for us!
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Your 4-year-old really ate that? Wow.
I almost gasped when I read that you cut out the stems of the swiss chard – that is my favorite part! It is slightly sweeter than the leaves.
I’ve enjoyed making Eggs in a Nest with swiss chard. Something to consider if you’re okay with rice: http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/recipes-spring-eggs-in-a-nest.htm
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Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship Reply:
June 11th, 2012 at 8:30 pm
Frances,
Well, the 7yo ate it right up; the 4yo has stubbornly decided she doesn’t like salmon anymore, as it makes her arm hurt. Right. *raspberries* to that! She’ll come around…
I hadn’t actually ever used swiss chard when I wrote the recipe, but I tried a side dish from Simply Recipes for swiss chard and it called for keeping the stems but sauteeing them first. I liked it! So I’m learning…
Katie
Thanks for the recipe!
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Haha! I guess I’m not the only one who goes to bed, dreams, and gets up thinking about food. My nap the other day to get over a headache consisted of that (and checking my iPhone to find a new KS post in my inbox helped a little too. )
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I can’t get enough greens! My all-time favorite greens recipe can be found here. I use it for Kale, Chard and Collards. They turn out SO yummy!!!
http://cookusinterruptus.com/braised-greens-66.html
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Here is a great recipe for arugula:
https://www.abundantharvestorganics.com/recipes.php?id=110 It comes from our favorite CSA until we left CA. Their website (abundantharvestorganics.com) also has a great recipe database searchable by vegetable. And yes, please use those chard stems–cut and saute like celery. One of my kids favorite soups is made form swiss chard . . . saute chard stems, carrot, onion, celery in lots of butter. Add chicken broth, salt and some diced potato when all that is soft; cook until potatoes are soft. Add diced chard leaves and cook until wilted then puree it all with an immersion blender. Yum!
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Mmm, this sounds really great! We love kale, but this year I’m determined to make better use of some of the other greens from our CSA, too. We are getting a mushroom CSA (it’s another farm partnered with the main one for distribution purposes) and although the adults in the family feel that mushrooms sauteed with garlic go with everything, our 7-year-old is grouchy about them in everything but omelets so far…. Maybe this pizza-flavored dish will win him over!
One of our new favorite recipes this year that uses greens is Lemon Creamy Chicken with Macaroni and a Salad, which makes a full meal with several components that a picky child can eat separately while parents put them all together. My family makes it with salmon instead of tuna, and so far we’ve used only kale for the greens. Gluten-free people could substitute rice for macaroni. It’s yummy!!
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CSA Preview Week Two | Basket of Abundance // Jun 11, 2012 at 8:34 pm
[...] Swiss Chard with Mushrooms, Goat Cheese, and Smoked Salmon, over Polenta, loosely based on this from Kitchen Stewardship [...]
That sounds like a great idea! The greens from my CSA have ended for the season, we’re already on summer veggies here in central Texas but I loved this swiss chard and olives http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/swiss_chard_with_olives/ dish all spring. We still have some collard greens growing in our home garden so I might use those on a crepe. Never thought of them together!
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Swiss Chard with Mushrooms, Tuna, and Tomatoes over Polenta | Basket of Abundance // Jun 12, 2012 at 9:58 pm
[...] Here’s the original recipe, from Kitchen Stewardship http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2012/06/08/csa-greens-recipe-italian-salmon-or-mushrooms-with-gree…. [...]
We received out first CSA share ever on Saturday. I’m so excited to be trying new things! We got Chinese cabbage which I made coleslaw with (yum!). I stirfried a bunch of greens for my dinner tonight. The big hit with my kids was kale chips! Wow, who knew? They’re begging for more. Can’t wait to see what goodies this week brings.
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We use bok choy (or any choi or spinach) and sautee with some bacon grease or coconut oil along with onions, some basil, and some oregano. We then put an over easy egg on top. SO GOOD for breakfast.
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of course there’s these ideas, too!
http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2011/07/13/5-easy-delicious-ways-to-use-up-csa-greens-guest-post/
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Hey, I made this without mushrooms, and it was delicious but MUCH TOO WET to eat in wraps! Even cut with knife and fork, it was sliding all over the place because it was so saucy. I think 8 oz. raw weight of mushrooms would not have made much difference. Did you measure the 2c tomato sauce, or did you just guess at how much you put in?
Anyway, we will be eating the leftovers as a pasta sauce tonight.
And I am very glad to have a way of using the swiss chard from our CSA.
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Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship Reply:
June 18th, 2012 at 11:43 pm
Becca,
Katie
Hmmm, that’s a good question – I probably just eyed it up out of the bottle. When I measured 2 c. for something else this week, I was surprised that my 24 oz. bottle, which should have had 8 oz. or 1 cup left, I thought, was nearly empty. So…maybe I’m not so good at eyeing things up! Perhaps I’ll change the recipe to say 1-2 cups…that’s always the hazard in posting something after making it just once… But I’m glad you liked it!
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Oh my goodness – forgot about that guest post, Plus Other Good Stuff!!! That was when life was even crazier than it is now…must not have had brain cells to store it…
I’m updating my new post with that!
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I would really like the grain-free crepe recipe! Can you share it?
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Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship Reply:
September 14th, 2012 at 11:42 pm
Lauren,
Katie
It’s so easy, basically just eggs and coconut flour. 6 eggs and 2 Tbs coconut flour if I remember right, plus a pinch of salt.
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