Collard Greens: Cooking Class at St. Helena's

Parkchester March, 16th, 2019 - St. Helena School Cafeteria

This time we focus on Collard Greens. By all means follow the link for an excellent piece on The World's Healthiest Foods about the nutritional powerhouse of Collard Greens.

Collard greens are also very versatile because the leaves are sturdy, so you can sort of make vegetable roti's or tacos or whatever you want to call them...


For our dinner today, we are making a salad, soup and collard green burritos, and we'll have some fruit for desert...

Due to a miscommunication, the whole event did not happen. So we had a

Salad

1 red leaf lettuce
1/2 red pepper
1/2 yellow pepper
1/2 green pepper
1 red onion
2 cooked beets (medium/small, or one large one)
as available, some table spoons of chia seeds (and/or milled flax seeds, or hemp hearts)
5 scoops of cooked quinoa (cold or warm, see below)
some parsley
some salad olives

1/2/3 dressing with lemon and lime (1 tbsp maple syrup, 2 tbsp dijon mustard, 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar)

Option, you could serve it with the quinoa warm and caramelized onions. That might be nicer on a cold day.

 

Miso Soup with Daikon and Collard Greens

Here is the simplest recipe:
https://hippocratessays.com/budget-wfpb-no-1-ramen/

We'll go slightly fancier today (for about 4 people):

4x3=12 cups of water
4x3=12 dried shiitake musrhooms
4x1=4 tbsp hijiki
4/1=4 tbsp wakame

1 daikon
4x3=12 leaves of collard greens (more if small)

1 firm style tofu (jury is out on that one, some swear by silky tofu. Suit yourself.)
6-12 scallions
4x2 tbsp red miso

4 rolls of soba noodles or whole grain ramen.

Collard Green Burritos

Note: Many ways to go here, and you can start with steamed collard green leaves or raw. In either case, you want to flatten the stem with a roller pin, or, you might shave off some of the stems with a knife, so the leaves are easier to roll.

filler:
rice or quinoa, or chunks of boiled sweet potato
low sodium black beans

some ripe avocado
some thinly sliced peppers
chopped onions (I prefer red)
some finely chopped garlic
cooked green beans
sprouts
fresh spinach
cilantro

some mushrooms, depending on variety can be raw or cooked.
some nutritional yeast
some kimchi for seasoning.
salsa

just out of interest, here is another interesting recipe:

https://minimalistbaker.com/vegan-collard-green-burritos/

Our June #WFPB Meal Preparation

We made a lot of different things this time, some to demonstrate take-out solutions.

Notes:
The Upton's Naturals barbecued jackfruit is not available locally, you can get it on-line at Thrive or at Amazon.
Savory (sabroso in Spanish) it a spice that is great in dishes with legumes (lentils, beans, etc.) it adds flavor and aids digestion (reduces gas).
Tarragon (Estragon in Spanish) is another spice that works well in our Locro de Lentejas.

Steamed, or boiled kale with sweet potatoes and balsamic 

This is easy to make and the balsamic acts as a preservative, so you can put it in a plastic bag and take it anywhere, all you need is a plastic fork.

strip the kale, and boil in boiling water for 6-7 minutes until soft, or steam for 12-15 minutes.

Separately boil the sweet potatoes and cut in cubes to mix with the kale.

We added in some roasted pepper today. (Unfortunately, our kale was a bit under-cooked.)

Drizzle with balsamic.

Stuffed Collard Greens (Burrito style) is another easy take out dish. You could call it collard green burritos.

Ingredients

collard greens
hummus
boiled basmati rice
green beans
(option) barbecued jackfruit
(option) mushrooms, can be fresh or roasted
kimchi

Preparation

put hummus in the center section of the leaf
add a thin layer of rice
some green beans
some pieces of barbecued jackfruit
dress with kimchi
roll it up, and serve.

If you are going to a picknick, or anywhere where you want to make sure you have your own food, you can package these rolls in a sheet of paper towel towel and saran wrap.

Locro de Lentejas (Lentil soup from Ecuador)

Lentil soup with Cabbage

Ingredients

1 lb whole lentils
1 lb young potatoes (the kind with the thin skin, either yukon gold or redskin), quartered or smaller, depending on the size and personal preference
one small green cabbage, quartered and sliced in 1/4" strips

1 white onion cut up in small pieces,
2-3 large red onions, sliced thin
4 green chilis, sliced thin, with seeds
2 jalapeño peppers, sliced thin (without seeds)
10 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped fine.
1 or 2 king mushroom cut in strips

1 teaspoon of savory
1 teaspoon of tarragon
5 bay leaves

2 pints of low sodium vegetable stock
3 pints of water
1 Green Cabbage

1/2 cup of cilantro, chopped (leaves only)

Braggs Liquid Aminos, to taste.

Alternatively, dissolve one heaping tablespoon of miso paste in water and add at the end.

Preparation

Dry fry the onions with the chilis and jalapenos and the king mushroom over a medium flame for about 4/5 minutes, stirring constantly, until they got soft and start to brown. Add a splash of veggie broth as needed, so it does not stick to the pan.

Add garlic, the vegetable stock and the water and herbs, the lentils and, after 15-20 minutes, the potatoes. Let cook for another 10-15 minutes, and add the cabbage, cut in strips. Let it cook for another 5-10 mins.

At the end, add some miso, dissolved in water and some chopped cilantro and/ or Braggs Liquid Amino's to taste.
(Notes:

1. Some people would peel the potatoes, but if you buy thin-skinned potatoes, you can easily cook them in the skin, even cut-up: you lose less nutrition that way.)
2. Never boil the miso!

Green Salad

We kept it simple with the salad:

A head of green lettuce,
a red pepper
three tomatoes
some chopped onion
some milled flax seed and some chia seeds
3/2/1 dressing: 3 measures of balsamic, 2 measures of Dijon Mustard, and 1 measure of maple syrup
1 can of black-eyed peas
parsley