THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 27, 1994 TAG: 9410260033
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: MORSELS
SOURCE: RUTH FANTASIA
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
COLLARDS, KALE and other greens aren't just for boiling anymore.
At a recent Association of Food Journalists conference in Atlanta, chefs prepared greens in every shape and form. And that led to rousing discussions on whether greens should be boiled for hours, or simply blanched.
New Southern chefs are looking at greens in a new light. Travis Holewinski, chef at Atlanta's South City Kitchen, substitutes collards for cabbage in a lamb and corn-bread-stuffed version of cabbage rolls. And chef Frank Stitt of the Highlands Bar & Grill in Birmingham, Ala., makes a wilted greens salad of collards, dandelion, beet tops and arugula.
The trick to using greens in a salad, Stitt says, is to harvest the leaves while they're still young and small. Stitt's recipe for Wilted Greens Salad With Wild Mushrooms calls for sauteing a chopped onion in olive oil or bacon fat and then adding the cleaned greens.
Cook the greens, covered, for five minutes, then add a tablespoon water and cook for 10 minutes more. The salad is delightful topped with shiitake mushrooms and a simple vinaigrette.
Even agriculture departments in the South are jumping on the farm wagon with greens.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture, for example, has developed a recipe substituting turnip greens for spinach in dip. North Carolina's ag department has teamed with the Leafy Greens Council to promote escarole, kale, Swiss chard and other leafy vegetables. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Grapefruit, Artichoke and Greens Salad uses leaf lettuce and
escarole.
by CNB