One of the delights of foraging is realizing just how much food is –quite literally –beneath your feet. It can be exhilarating to go out into the field or forest with a basket in hand, and return with free berries, nuts, and more greens than you can shake a stick at.
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但如果你不是厨房里的能手，你可能会在觅食之旅中感到压抑。浆果可以生吃，当然，坚果也很容易嚼碎，但你到底要怎么处理这些不同的绿色蔬菜呢?人体所能接受的凉拌沙拉只有那么多，就许多野生蔬菜而言，它们的味道往往比一般的冰山沙拉更浓。
Though you can dress them a dozen different ways, I believe a salad is the most boring thing you can possibly do with wild greens. And I take that as a good thing! The opportunities afforded a creative cook with a huge haul of foraged flora are pretty much limitless, once you look past the bottle of ranch.
So in this article, I hope to give you a helpful handful of ideas on how to cook the domestic and wild greens you bring into your kitchen. And though these methods are excellent for wild greens, they can work perfectly well for domestic greens, too.
Related Post:Foraging for Wild Spinach
General Tips for Cooking Wild and Domestic Greens
The following tidbits of information will be old hat to anyone who starts a regular habit of cooking greens (a highly recommended endeavor).
- Submerge your foraged greens in a big bowl of water when you bring them in from the field. It will keep them from wilting, and is a water-saving way to get them washed. After swishing them around and getting any dirt and bugs loose, dump the water onto your garden, get a fresh bowl, and give them a second rinse.
- Wrap tiny greens in a bigger leaf to hold them in place and make mincing or julienning them a breeze.
- 烹饪蔬菜时不要害怕用油或黄油。脂肪有助于营养物质的吸收和消化，并使它们更美味。
- 准备好数量呈指数级减少吧。任何带来一篮子菠菜的人都知道，看起来足够养活一支军队的东西，其实可以煮成两个人吃的。如果你的菜需要更多的分量，试着把蔬菜和sautéed卷心菜和洋葱混合在一起来延长它们的分量。
- On that topic, add salt AFTER the greens have reduced, so they aren’t over seasoned.
- Tongs make flipping and sautéing greens a breeze.
Related Post:Foraging for Wild Strawberries
Different Wild Greens Cooking Methods
Here are some of my favorite non salad ways to treat the wild greens I pluck from the forests and fields. None of them are really given as whole recipes. Also, I’m well aware that I use a lot of cayenne and garlic, and that may not be your style. Additionally, wild greens are the wild card in any dish. Some are more fibrous than others, some have a higher water content, and they all defy being perfectly constrained into any recipe.
You’ll have to embrace a little of the unknown when you bring foraged food into the kitchen. With that in mind, these recipes are intended to be an inspiration for you as you learn. Whether you have a ton of wild greens, or just a few that need to be supplemented with garden contributions, this series of leaf treatments can give you a good launching point for your own kitchen masterpieces.
Added to Whatever’s Cooking
Greens can easily slip into more dishes than you may realize. That pot of soup on the stove? A handful of chopped greens added in the last 10 minutes gives both a pop of color and nutrition. Your pasta? Sauté diced greens and garlic with the noodles before you add the sauce, and you’ll add a Michelin star or two to your home cooking. Making an omelet or frittata? You already know that greens and cheese are begging to be added. I could go on, but you get the point. Even if the foraging pickings are too slim to make them a whole dish in their own right, greens can be added to almost every meal. Your taste buds and good health will thank you.
Stir-Fried Dishes
I lament all cookbooks that treat vegetables with the following line: “Boil until tender-crisp, season, and serve.” Boiling does have its purpose, but for most greens (pokeweed being a notable exception), boiling turns them into a depressing, gray-green mush of regretful texture and flavor, and leaves many of the nutrients behind in the cooking water.
For a just-as-easy, but far tastier alternative, stir-fried greens are the answer. Quick to prepare, toothsome, colorful, and full of flavor when spiced, greens shine when given a quick whirl in a hot wok or frying pan. The addition of oil in the pan adds a much-needed element of fat to the dish, and the hot, quick-cooking both keeps most of the nutrients in the leaf where they belong and preserves their verdant hue.
简单的翻炒，把锅加热到中高温，加入一汤匙油，蒜末调味，和一汤匙姜末，然后sauté炒出香味。在锅里放尽可能多的切碎的蔬菜。它们会在高温下迅速降温。搅拌和烹饪，在蔬菜上涂上调味油。当它们已经足够枯萎，但仍然是亮绿色时，加入酱油调味，并搅拌几次。关火，(如果需要的话)撒上辣椒片或新鲜的辣椒片，少许芝麻油，装饰用的芝麻。用这种方法煮一锅蔬菜，即使是最讨厌绿色的人也会在厨房里飘来飘去，想知道那股神奇的味道是什么。
Greens Patties
我真的应该给这些绿色美味的油炸油饼取个更吸引人的名字，但这是我们家乡的名字。春天是最好的季节，那时鸡又开始下蛋，田野里到处都是免费的食物。这是一道没有菜谱的叛逆菜，你只需要把你有的东西和你想要的东西混合在一起，直到它粘在一起。不知何故，结果似乎总是很好。
Wash whatever greens you have and mince them as finely as possible — the finer the better. Throw them in a bowl and add an egg or two, minced garlic or onions, and seasonings. I often use smoked paprika, salt and pepper, cumin, and cayenne. Then, you can add some leftover cooked grains if desired. Finally, add enough flour to make it hold together into a ball. If you find it’s not sticking well enough, add a bit more flour and more water to get it to glue together.
Heat some oil in your favorite cast-iron skillet and fry burger-sized patties until they are crispy brown on the outside. You may need to press them with your spatula to make sure they hold together. Once done, serve these with cooked grains or sourdough toast, and some mustard.
Fatayer-Inspired Dish
Though I make no claims of authenticity with this fatayer-ish pie, it was my source of inspiration. No matter what you label it, a mess of seasoned greens stuffed into a pastry crust is a brilliant and delicious way to use your wild leafy haul. I like to make both hand pie or full pie-sized pastries.
1. Mix up your favorite pie crust with no sugar, and put half of the dough into your pie pan. Set aside.
2. Then, clean, chop and sauté a big heap of wild greens — as many as you could collect that day. If you found enough to fill the whole pie, perfect! But if the pickings were a little scanty, you can put a layer of mashed potatoes on the bottom of the pie to heartily fill any empty space. And if there happened to be a layer of fresh cheese on top of those potatoes, all the better. Anyway, season the sautéed greens with what spices sound right (I use whole cumin seeds and red pepper flakes). Allow the greens to slightly cool.
3. In a big bowl, whisk your eggs, salt, pepper, and a spoon or two of mustard. Fold in the cooled greens, and mix thoroughly. Add some optional cheese here, if desired. Now, dump that delicious mess into your pie crust and smooth it down.
4. Once the pie is full enough, add the top crust of pastry, pierce it with vent holes, and bake it at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about half an hour to 50 minutes, depending on how efficient your oven is. You’ll know it’s cooked through when the filling is bubbling out of the vent holes and browning the crust. Served with some roasted potatoes or a tomato salad, it makes a wonderful base for any meal of the day.
Wild Saag Paneer
Traditionally, saag paneer is a delicious dish of homemade cheese cubes swimming in a spicy, silky-smooth gravy made of greens. Under that forgiving umbrella, we’re going to make this classic Indian vegetarian dish with whatever wild greens you can find. I try to use the most tender wild greens I can find such as young wild lettuce, the early shoots of wild spinach, parboiled pokeweed, and violet leaves. They aren’t stemmy or strongly veined and will blend into a velvety sauce.
1. First, you need to make paneer cheese. If you’ve never tried making cheese before, this simple recipe is a great way to build up your confidence. Bring half-gallon of whole-fat milk to a boil, take off the heat, add 1/4 a cup of lemon juice or vinegar, give a gentle stir, and let sit five minutes while the curds knit together. Gently ladle out the curds into a cheesecloth-lined colander, then press the curds for an hour or so with a weighted plate to compress them into a solid hunk of delicious cheese. Set that aside for now, we’ll get back to it.
2. Finely mince at least 3 cloves of garlic and a knob of ginger, and sauté them in a large pan. Add 2 teaspoons of whole cumin seeds and a teaspoon of coriander seeds, and 2 (optional) tablespoons of shredded coconut, and continue to stir until the seeds pop. Now, add one diced onion, and cook until the whole mess is a fragrant aroma that has your neighbors sniffing the air and feeling hungry. Throw that stuff in a blender and turn it into a paste, and set aside.
3. Take all your well-washed greens and wilt them in the seasoned pan. Once they have reduced, add them to your blender as well, and blend until as smooth as possible. If you’re making a big batch, you may need to blend the greens and onions separately. Either way, get them all back into the pan and set on a low simmer.
4. Add salt and black pepper and as much hot chili pepper as you want (I like a lot). If you have garam masala, throw in a half teaspoon, otherwise, add a couple of pinches of cinnamon and a tiny pinch of ground cloves. If desired, you can also add a quarter cup of cream, some coconut milk, or some butter to make the gravy even more luscious. Taste and adjust seasonings, and simmer on low.
5. Now, unwrap your pressed paneer and cube. Slide the cheese cubes into the gravy and gently fold them into the fragrant mix to coat and warm.
Serve with rice, and you have a foraged meal fit for royalty!
Shakshuka
Shakshuka is a classic breakfast (or any meal) popular in Israel, North Africa, and other parts of the Middle East. Traditionally, eggs are gently poached in a flavorful mixture of tomatoes, onions, and spices, but for our shakshuka, some wild greens are also on the ingredient list. You can choose to make a green slurry-like we did for the paneer recipe or to dice up the greens.
1. In a large, deep pan, sauté onions and garlic in olive oil until fragrant and translucent. If you have bell peppers (I didn’t, sadly), add them too. Then add salt, pepper, cumin, and paprika, and coat the alliums evenly. At this point is when I usually add all the fresh herbs from my garden. Oregano, thyme, and garlic leaves are always winners.
2. Next, in go all those fresh chopped wild greens. Once they are nicely wilted, add tomatoes in some form. You can use fresh (though it will take longer to cook), canned whole tomatoes, tomato sauce, or tomato paste. Whatever you choose, set the pan to simmer and cook down until they form a nice, chunky sauce. You want this sauce to be thick enough to hold its shape when you press a spoon into it.
3. Now, create a well in the sauce for every person you’ll be feeding, and carefully crack some fresh eggs into each well. Once they have been cooked to your desired doneness (I like mine on the runny side), spoon out the eggs with a hearty helping of that lovely chunky sauce and serve with a garnish of fresh basil or parsley, a sprinkle of optional cheese, and a side of fresh-cooked flatbread or some good, crusty sourdough. If you manage to make a dish like this over an open fire while camping, you will likely make immediate friends with anyone in your vicinity.
如果我的工作做得对，你应该有点饿了并且有很大的动力出去从田野里寻找新鲜的食物。当然，这些只是我家乡最喜欢的一些野菜，它们绝对超越了沙拉的悲惨命运。如果你对不同的烹饪方法有任何建议，请在下面的评论中分享。
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