As the weather changes (can you believe that we’ve already had our first rains?), your immune system requires a boost. Luckily, we have amazing produce here in the Bay Area at this time of year that can help in the process.
Both Vitamins A and C help keep your immune system running well. Most yellow-orange and red-fleshed vegetables and fruit such as sweet potatoes, ripe sweet and hot peppers, tomatoes and cantaloupe are good sources. So are greens, which is what I’ll be discussing today.
It’s funny but in the summer I eat lots of salads but I hardly eat any greens as they don’t taste nearly as good as they do when they haven’t been kissed by summer’s heat which tends to make them bitter. In the winter when greens such as kale, collards, mustard and Swiss chard, have been touched by winter’s chill, they develop a sweetness, as a complement, to their slightly bitter quality that makes them all that much more delicious. In the shoulder season, which is now, they are quite tasty and abundant.
As you likely know, greens really cook down. In the South, no one would likely cook his or her greens for less than an hour, and certainly not without salt pork or a ham hock for flavoring. Well, that doesn’t work for me as a vegetarian so the following recipe combines two in-season foods to produce an easy-to-make but incredibly tasty dish that can be made in the winter with canned tomatoes. If you have some fresh red ripe bell peppers, feel free to cut them up and add them for even more flavor and great nutrition. If you add a cup or more of cooked white beans such as Cannellini or garbanzo, you have an almost complete meal.
If you really like greens, cook a couple of bunches at once. This dish makes great leftovers. I can often eat one bunch myself, and there’s no harm, only good, in doing so.
Another great immune system booster is mushrooms, which I will be discussing in-depth next month.
Greens Braised with Tomatoes and Thyme
Serves 4
I am always looking for new ways to cook greens to make them tasty and interesting. It seems almost impossible to eat too many of them.
6 cups chopped greens, such as kale, turnip, collards or your favorite
1 ½ cups peeled, seeded, chopped fresh or canned, diced tomatoes
½ cup red wine or vegetable stock
1 teaspoon Sucanat or agave syrup
3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 cinnamon stick
1-2 tablespoons fruity olive oil (optional)
¼-½ teaspoon salt (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a nonreactive saucepan and simmer covered for 30 minutes. Uncover and cook another 15 minutes, or longer to reduce slightly if you prefer a thicker sauce. Remove the cinnamon stick and thyme stems. Serve as a side dish or over whole wheat noodles, quinoa or other grain.
From The Veggie Queen: Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment by Jill Nussinow, MS, RD, The Veggie Queen™, http://www.theveggiequeen.com
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