The Light and Tasty column has asked us to cook with “the colors of winter” today, and among the winter recipes in my photo archive, I’ve chosen this recipe that I’ve been wanting to write about for a while: my skillet of turnip greens with potatoes, a comforting recipe just like simple recipes can be. 😊
I cooked it a while ago following advice from Lina Felicia, a special person who often suggests recipes to me, especially from the Campania region, which I’m unfamiliar with, and who always gives me valuable tips on cooking and typical ingredients. Sure, with this recipe, I wasn’t exactly a model student because when it came to executing it, I ended up improvising as I always do, forgetting to mash the potatoes as Lina had told me to do. 😇
But here we are, in this Monday column, not to be perfect (me? 😂) but to have fun cooking and learning new things, and thanks to this recipe, I learned quite a bit this time.
I learned that there are different varieties of turnip greens, each tied to its territory and therefore with a typical regional name (like the famous friarielli or broccoletti). I learned they are inflorescences and must be harvested when in bud, i.e., closed. I learned that they are usually boiled because boiling reduces their bitterness, but they can also be steamed or sautéed in a pan, and if desired, they can be eaten raw if small and tender.
I’ve only cooked them a couple of times so far (once to dress pizzoccheri, remember?), both times in a pan and both times going a bit by intuition, being a completely new vegetable for me because it does not belong to my tradition. But I really enjoy trying to cook what I don’t know, especially vegetables!
Lina Felicia suggested I try this recipe by substituting the turnip greens with chicory or other wild herbs, so get ready because I have other variations on the theme to experiment with! And who knows, maybe to propose as future Monday recipes! 😃
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Below, I’ll leave you with 3 other great recipes that I didn’t know and were taught to me by Lina Felicia and my friend Rossana 💛👇
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economic
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: Stove, Microwave
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Winter
Ingredients
- 1 bunch turnip greens (1.1 lbs (500 g))
- 3 potatoes
- 3 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- hot chili pepper (to taste)
Tools
- Pan with lid
- Microwave Oven
Steps
Wash the turnip greens with running water.
Cut them into pieces and place them in a pan without draining too much. Cook them with a teaspoon of oil, a clove of garlic, and a piece of chili pepper.
Let them stew for about 15 minutes over medium heat with the lid closed, adding a few tablespoons of hot water if needed.
While the turnip greens are cooking in the pan, peel the potatoes, cut them into pieces, rinse them in cold water, and cook them in the microwave (or cook them whole and peel them after cooking).
👉 For the best way to cook potatoes in the microwave, check out my tutorial –> QUI
Transfer the potatoes to the pan with the turnip greens and let them flavor for a few minutes.
Finish with a drizzle of raw oil and serve the turnip greens with potatoes hot.
Tips Without Salt
As always, my top suggestion for cooking vegetables is not to boil them in water, as it causes most of the minerals to be lost (and the flavor). For this reason, I cooked my turnip greens directly in the pan without blanching them first.
One of the qualities of turnip greens is that they have a strong flavor, slightly bitter, so it’s a particularly suitable vegetable to be cooked without salt, having its own characteristic and intense flavor.
The use of chili pepper and garlic is ideal, as they are excellent flavor enhancers, always suitable for all vegetables.
If you’re interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
– Reduce salt gradually, the palate must get used to it slowly and shouldn’t notice the gradual reduction.
– Use spices. Chili pepper, pepper, curry, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cumin…
– Use aromatic herbs. Basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, mint…
– Use seeds. Sesame, pine nuts, almonds, nuts…
– Use spicy vegetables or fruit. Garlic, onion, lemon, orange…
– Use my salt-free vegetable granules and gomasio.
– Prefer fresh foods.
– Avoid cooking in water, prefer cooking methods that don’t disperse flavors (grill, foil, steam, microwave)
– Avoid bringing the salt shaker to the table!
– Occasionally allow yourself a break from the rule. It lifts the mood and helps to persevere.
If you don’t want, or can’t, give up salt:
You can still try my recipes, salting according to your habits.
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The other Light and Tasty recipes today:
And here are the other proposals from the Team:
Carla Emilia: Baked Fennel
Daniela: Fennel Salad with Yogurt and Walnuts
Elena: Colorful Chicken Salad
Milena: Soup of Colored Cauliflowers and Hazelnuts
Serena: Chard and Borlotti Bean Soup
