Dish 2: Beans and Greens and Variations

There's an Adam Savage quote I love (paraphrasing here): the only difference between science and just screwing around is writing stuff down. It's an idea I want to embody here. Cooking is science. To move forward I need to document, reflect, make changes and then document what's different.

I don't need to get everything right right now. I want to experiment so I can be more confident in my decisions later. The trick is to not worry about not knowing or looking foolish, to look at it as a learning opportunity instead. I still have trouble with this.

But on to cooking! It's a two-fer.

The idea for this was a recipe from the NY Times: beans and beet greens. I had pink beans and so just ran with the concept.

I soaked a bag (1 lb) of pink beans overnight, then reserving two cups I put them in a pot with enough water to generously cover. Why did I hold some beans back? I had the idea to throw a sprig of oregano in the big pot, but wasn't sure of the result. To create a point of comparison, those reserved 2 cups went into another pot with just water.

They both simmered away until the beans were soft- the large pot got a second spring of oregano mid-way through. Towards the end of cooking I added some salt and pepper to both to taste. The result? I really liked the oregano beans. No oregano weren't bad, just meh. I'll freeze them and add them to something else later on.

The next day I split up my big batch of oregano beans. I'd been debating all day whether to use kale or bok choy- I decided on another trial following the spirit of the original recipe. 

Each pot got:

1 med onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 cups oreganoed pink beans

1 cup water

1 sprig oregano

In addition I prepped 4 leaves of bok choy and 8 of the kale (an equivalent volume of veg). 

I cooked the onion and garlic in a little olive oil with the diced stems of the veg of choice. Once they all softened I added the water and beans and turned up the heat a bit. Did the wait for the boil then turn down to a simmer thing (is there a term for this? There really should be). Then in went the leaves, roughly chopped, and I stirred til they wilted.

At the very very end I added the leaves from another sprig of oregano.

The result? Kale won. It added more flavor overall. The bok choy was fine but bland. I even took a cue from the recipe and added a little grated parmesan- helped a lot but still didn't match the kale (which did not need the garnish). 

Of course now I'm wondering if kale is inherently more awesome, or just worked better with this flavor profile. More tests for another day.

Delivery 1

Yesterday I picked up my first CSA Share! Unfortunately I didn't take a pic of everything together until they were all bagged up, but still- gorgeous:

Contents:
Rhubarb-1 bunch*

Bok Choi-1 bunch

Chinese Cabbage-1 head*

Red Leaf Lettuce-1 head

Romaine Lettuce-1 head

Spring Time Kale-1 bunch

Mustard Greens-1 bunch*

Mizuna-1 bunch*

Garlic Chives-1 bunch*

Oregano-1 bunch

* = first time using. Technically I've cooked with mustard greens before...from a bag, frozen. So I'm not counting it

There was a small part of me that hoped that I'd be able to live solely off this CSA share, but there is a lot I'll want to pick up to supplement. I may have too many ideas :)

It'll be all salad everything for the lettuce and kale most likely. But for the new guys, here are some thoughts and non-bagged pics:

Rhubarb - Tart red veggie, usually used in desserts and jams. So excited for this, I've always wanted to try it, though wish I'd gotten more. This lovely rustic tart recipe from smitten kitchen seems my speed and requires minimal ingredient investment. Also you cook them straight from the freezer so there's no pressure to eat 10 in a few days.

Chinese Cabbage - aka Napa Cabbage. Used a lot asian cuisine- I see a super tempting recipe for dumplings, but I'm thinking kimchi! Or both- there is a lot of it. Found a nice kimchi recipe on CHOW- tho will probably omit the shrimp. It's got a slightly higher ingredient investment cost- and it may take some hunting to find that chili powder.

Mizuna - Japanese green- often compared to mustard greens or arugula, though milder. Can be eaten raw or cooked- I may try it with some lettuce in a salad and/or in stir fry recipe with Bok Choy (bonus for using another CSA veg!). Speaking of which...

 

Bok Choy - so. freaking. much. I've roasted the baby version of this before and loved it. Will probably try something similar with this big guy.

Oregano - nothing is springing to mind specifically for this (a friend suggested a lot of pizza!), but I so seldom use fresh herbs. Have to use all of it.

Garlic Chives -  It's like chive with a hint of garlic. Or a mild scallion. Another Asian veggie. I could use it in the kimchi- (oh hey! there's buchu kimchi which uses this instead of the cabbage)- or to showcase it make an omlette or garlic chive pancakes.

Mustard Greens - I've had an aversion to the flavor of mustard since I was little but recently started coming around to it in a big way. Want to try it in something cooked (maybe just a simple saute) and raw.

Tonight will be my first serious night of cooking in the new place. Sooo excited!