Collard Greens and Mushrooms

My friend Jon is my city-foodie-friend. We meet up for meals and talk about the merits or Meyer lemons and shiso leaves. Recently he was working in my hometown and picked up kale from my local supermarket. "What's it like?" I asked. "Its a green leafy vegetable, sometimes sweet, sometimes a little bitter" he replied. So when kale was on sale at my local supermarket, I decided to give it a try. ...Except I bought the wrong thing! I picked up collard greens! I really like them actually - its not as sweet as spinach, but not as bitter as some Chinese leafy greens I've had. It strikes a good balance, and at 79 cents a pound, is hard to go wrong. (Kale's not bad either, but I think I like collard greens more!)

Kale and Mushrooms with white rice and leftover barbecue chicken.

Collard Greens and Mushrooms - for one


4 big leaves of collard greens
5 mushrooms (I used baby bella)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp butter
pinch of salt

1. Chop the greens. The stems should be diced, the leave cut crosswise into strips. Separate the stems from the leaves as the stems will need to cook a little longer. Mushrooms should be cubed into bite sized pieces.
2. Place your saute pan on medium high heat. Let it warm up a little.
3. Drop in the butter and swirl the pan to let the pan get an even coating. Reduce heat to medium (butter has a low smoking point, so you don't want to cook it too fast or too hot)
4. Drop in the garlic and saute until fragrant.
5. Add stems. Let them saute for about 3 minutes, until bright green.
6. Add leaves and mushrooms. Saute until leaves are bright green and shiny and mushrooms are darkened.
7. Add pinch of salt - you really don't need a lot. And remember you can always add more, but never take away - its better to add a little at a time. 

Enjoy! x3 Suanne