Winter Leaves - Cooked

[DORSETFOODIE]

Hello

New to gardening, have had raised beds put in recently, sowed mixed winter leaves, like red mustard, mizuna, etc, all have quite strong flavour, a little too strong for our tastes as salad and they've got quite big. Can anyone tell me can I use these as say stir fry veggies or with a quiche or frittata like you can Rocket?

Any suggestions welcome, thank you
Dorsetfoodie

[Alison]

Just give it a try and see if you like it, nothing to lose and you can stir fry most leaves if you want.

[Nicos]

Could you add a few leaves to a mixed veg homemade soup??

I add lettuce leaves and sorrel in small amounts to my soups so as not to waste anything.

Never tried them, so not much help here I'm afraid!

[Flummery]

Oh yes, most of those spicy leaf mixtures are great cooked as long as you just sort of wilt them. No hour-and-a-half cabbage boiling! And as to soups - I put anything I have into soups - never the same twice! There's not been anything I wouldn't use again. I especially like a leaf or two of kale chopped in.

[Nicos]

Oh yes- nearly forgot....welcome to the Vine!!!!

[Sue]

Hi Dorsetfoodie and welcome to the Vine

I've found if you wilt the leaves and then cover with cheese sauce and a sprinkling of breadcrumbs and the brown the dish in the oven makes many strongly flavoured leaves like kale rather tasty.

Use the leaves to make parcels of nuts, rice etc?

And yes, have used kale in a quiche, that worked quite well.

best wishes
Sue

[smallblueplanet]

If you like indian food here is a recipe for saag, that has some great pictures to show you how to cook it - looks very yummy, wish we had some greens!

Saag

[Alice]

Welcome to the Vine Dorsetfoodie. All the suggestions you have had have been good. You can use those leaves raw, wilted into stirfries, cooked into stews or curries, added into soups, or eaten any way you like. What else are you growing ?

[Cutecumber]

I think a stir fry is a fine place to start.

Add leaves added at the end, heating until they are just wilted.

Bear in mind that these kinds of leaves do have quite a strong flavour - mustard, mizuna and co. - and this flavour will still be there when they are cooked. I would recommend starting with a little at a time and accustoming yourselves to the new flavours. Once you get used to them cooked you may find that they become more palatable to you raw.

It's worth persevering - I was unsure when I first tasted some of the oriental greens but I now really appreciate their unusual flavours and they have helped me become more adventurous.

[DORSETFOODIE]

Thank you all for your great tips, the Vine is a really friendly place, I'll be back, as Arnie used to say. Merry Christmas all. I'll give some of these a try over the Christmas Holidays.
Dorsetfoodie