wild greens

Much of this recipe is malleable, but the ratio of salt to water is not: Too much and you kill any ferment, too little and everything can rot. Your nose is a good guide. If your fermented greens stink like rot, don't eat them. They should have a pleasing pungent smell like a cross between mustard and dill pickles. Once the greens have fermented to your liking, seal the jars and store in the fridge. They'll last this way for a year or more.

Pickled Mustard Greens, Chinese Style

water

kosher salt ((see instructions))

star anise

Sichuan peppercorns ((optional))

A 2-inch piece of ginger, (sliced thin)

cinnamon

molasses sugar

mustard

Bring everything but the salt and mustard greens to a boil in a large pot. Turn off the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Pour everything into a vessel that you can weigh, and weigh the water plus spices in grams. Write this down.

Wash you mustard greens well, then shake them dry and weigh them in grams. Write this down.&nbsp;

When it's cool, weigh out 2 percent of the total weight of greens + water + spices in salt. Dissolve this in the liquid. If you use fine-grained salt you should have no problem. If the salt doesn't want to dissolve, stir until it does.&nbsp;

NOTE: If you don't want to weigh all this out, just use the salt ratio I have in the ingredients list. It is approximately the same, but not exactly.&nbsp;

Get out your fermenting crock or 5 quart-sized Mason jars with 5 narrow jelly jars to keep the greens submerged. You need this many because you will only pack the greens in 3/4 of the way into the jars -- you want at least 1 inch of brine above the level of the greens.&nbsp;

Submerge the greens in the brine, using a chopstick or skewer to get rid of any air bubbles. Put the weights on the greens if you have them. If not, place the Mason jars in the sink and put the narrow jelly jars in them. The brine will overflow but the narrow jar will prevent the greens from contacting the air. Set the jars on a baking sheet and put in a cool place away from direct sunlight.

Let them ferment at least 3 days, or longer. Mold may form eventually. This is normal. I wait until the mold cap is pretty solid, then pick it off. It's not harmful unless it's black.

Finish by packing jars tight with the fermented greens, leaving about 1/2 inch of brine over them. Tighten the lids and put in the fridge. They will continue to ferment very slowly, so open the jars every week or two to release pressure. If you want to kill the ferment, boil the brine and cool before packing the jars the final time.

A classic dish of wilted greens with garlic, pine nuts and dried fruit. Serves 2-4 as a side dish.

Roman-Style Wild Greens (with raisins and pine nuts)

oz wild greens (preferably non bitter ones

Kosher salt (to taste)

garlic (ends removed, cloves thinly sliced)

blended olive oil (or light olive oil)

raisins (currants,

A few cracks of the peppermill

pine nuts

Bring a small pot of salted water (roughly 4 T to each quart of water) to a boil and blanch the greens until just tender, about 30 seconds to a minute depending on your greens.

Remove the greens to a bowl of cold water and cool, then squeeze out the water.

If your greens are long, consider cutting them for easier eating.

Meanwhile, cook the garlic in the oil on medium heat until golden about 10 minutes. Take your time here, you want the garlic golden, but it should never be dark or black, which will ruin the dish. Ddd the the greens, raisins and pine nuts, and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Increase the heat on the pan to high, add a tiny splash of wine to the pan, then increase the heat to evaporate excess liquid.

Taste and correct the seasoning for salt and pepper, and cook down if it looks too wet. Serve hot.

Sometimes we serve it with lemon wedges at the table, a touch of crushed red pepper, or an extra drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

The most basic way I use to cook fresh, mild-tasting greens like watercress and spinach.

Easy Steamed Greens

greens

salted butter olive oil

lemon wedges or vinegar (for serving)

Wash the greens, looking them over for bugs, debris, leaves, or other foreign objects, then dry them well, preferably in a small salad spinner.

Put the steamer basket in a tall pot. Add water until you have at least 2-3 inches in the bottom of the pot. Bring the pot to a boil with the lid on. Add the greens, cover the pot, turn the heat to low.

Cook the greens until they&#39;re tender and taste good to you. Serve with soft butter, salt and lemon wedges at the table.

Using a steamer basket

Put a film of water in the bottom of the pot, add the greens—I like to add them until they completely fill the pot--sometimes I add them in batches if I need to feed a lot of people. Put the lid on the pot, and turn the heat to medium high and wait a few minutes until the pan gets very hot.

Take the lid off and stir the greens. Put the lid back on and cook for another minute or two, and repeat until the greens are wilted.

Now taste the greens and judge their tenderness, if they need a little more time, continue cooking, and add a splashes of water if needed to keep it juicy. Keep cooking and tasting the greens--young ones will cook fast, mature leaves could take 15 minutes or more.

When the greens are cooked and taste good to you, turn the heat off. There should be a very small amount of water in the bottom of the pan--drain that off.

Drizzle a little olive oil and salt to taste. Mix very well in a circular motion to distribute everything, taste again, adjust as needed, then serve, with lemon or dashes of vinegar if you like. Many people spread salted butter on them at the table.

Without a steamer basket (the best for watercress)

Nourish yourself with these spicy bowls packed with spring veggies, taken from Matt and Lentil Purbrick's new book, Grown & Gathered.

Sichuan rice bowls with wild greens

21/2 tbs extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to drizzle

onion,

peppercorns,

red chillies, torn

garlic cloves, crushed

ginger,

bacon pork

21/2 tsp rapadura sugar (from health food stores)

green kale, leaves picked

young radish leaves, turnip leaves

11/4 tsp unrefined salt

lemon

brown rice

http://resources.newscdn.com.au/cs/video/vjs/stable/build/index.html?id=5348771529001-5981817189001&=domain=del

5348771529001-5981817189001

There are a lot of ways you can play with this dish. You can use rabbit or chicken instead of squirrel, you can red wine instead of white wine, red vinegar instead of cider, kielbasa instead of smoked Portuguese sausages, collards instead of wild greens etc, etc. Have fun with it. The only trick to this stew is to build the flavors bit by bit. Not everything needs as long to cook as, say, squirrel legs. Follow my instructions on when you put in each ingredient and you'll be fine.

Squirrel Stew with Paprika and Greens

squirrels,

Salt

Flour

olive oil

onion

garlic cloves, (minced)

tomato paste

white wine

cider vinegar

savory

red pepper flakes

paprika

smoked sausage, (such as kielbasa

greens, (kale, chard, collards, wild greens, etc)

black pepper

Salt the squirrel pieces well and then dust in flour. Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or other heavy, lidded pot over medium-high heat. Brown the squirrels in batches, being sure to not overcrowd the pot. Move the browned pieces to a plate or cutting board while you cook the rest.

When the squirrels have been nicely browned, remove them all from the pot and add the onion. Saute the onion until it just begins to brown on the edges, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute. Add the tomato paste, mix well and cook this for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring often.

Pour in the white wine, vinegar and about 1 quart of water. Add the savory, red pepper flakes and paprika, then the torn-up tomatoes, then the squirrel. Mix well and bring to a simmer. Add salt to taste and cook gently until the squirrel wants to fall off the bone, about 90 minutes. Fish out all the squirrel pieces and pull them off the bone -- this makes the stew a lot easier to eat. Return them to the pot.

Add the smoked sausage and the greens and cook until the greens are done, about 10 minutes (If you are using collards, they need more than 10 minutes to cook so adjust accordingly). Add salt, black pepper, chile and vinegar to taste and serve with crusty bread.

Outstanding recipe! Will be my new go-to squirrel recipe. Used 3 gray squirrels, collard greens (no chard at the store but some really pretty, young collards), and smoked chorizo.  If using collards, put them into cook about 15-20 minutes before adding the sausage.

I made this today and really enjoyed it. I had a big old fox squirrel and a young red squirrel. I cut the recipe to feed 4. I didn’t dredge the pieces in flour as I’ve noticed I don’t really care for the result. I like the broth more liquid. Thanks for the recipe, my guests also enjoyed it.

I had the privilege of being present when Hank put this recipe together. Simply done,  and simply delicious!

This is a fantastic recipe. I love that as long as the base ingredients are there, you can tweak it to your liking or by what you have on hand. I made this with two cottontail rabbits from the freezer (my wife refuses to eat squirrels), turnip greens, smoked Portuguese linguica, and the bottom of a bottle of Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio. Simmered with the lid off for half of the cooking time because I wanted something between a soup and a stew. We will absolutely be making this again.

Fantastic recipe. Works great on any squirrel, but is an especially great way to use the old tough ones or any that get freezer burn.

This is really good. I shot a huge incidental grey squirrel while quail hunting recently and made this recipe. I threw in some quail since I only had the one squirrel as well as a bunch of collards. The wife and kids loved it served over egg noodles.

Amazing recipe. I had my neighbors all asking for the recipe and they thought they would never eat squirrel meat. Thank you!!!

Excellent, as usual.  I have yet to go wrong with any of Hank's recipes.  Had a couple  squirrels plaguing the bird feeders. No longer.  Waste not, want not - went to my favorite game cooking site to see what goodness could be had from the two offenders.  This recipe was phenomenal.  So much so, that our walnut grove island in cornfield-central is now a squirrel sanctuary.  Letting them build up their numbers, so we can have a good source of critters for this recipe.

I eat squirrel almost as often as I eat venison.  And this is my favorite squirrel recipe!  I use collards for the greens.  They are just the right texture.  The last time I made this, I used some home-made smoked Italian venison sausage.  It was great!

Hank,

I made this recipe yesterday, and it is phenomenal.  But, that's to be expected as I've never made one of your dishes when that wasn't the case.  The reason that I write is that my wife ate it and loved it as well.  This is a big deal, as she has adamantly refused to eat squirrel her entire life.  She loves elk, deer, etc.  but squirrel has always been the bridge to far for her palate.  No longer!

One of the most classic Italian recipes for cooking foraged greens. Use the recipe below the first time to get the feel for cooking the garlic, afterwords, forget about the recipe, and channel your inner Italian grandmother. Serves 2-4.

Cicoria in Padella (Greens with Garlic and Chili)

Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (plus more to taste)

garlic)

lemon wedges (for serving)

red pepper flakes (to taste)

First blanch the greens in boiling salted water until they taste good to you. If using wild greens, this could take 10-15 minutes, fresh, cultivated greens may take seconds.

If the greens are very long, consider chopping them coarsely so they can fit on a spoon. Cut the root end off each clove of garlic, then slice as thin as you can with a knife or mandoline (long or short way—either is fine) then heat in a 8 inch pan with the oil until the garlic is lightly browned and aromatic, about 4-5 minutes on medium-low heat.

The deeper the color you can put on the garlic, the better the flavor, just keep in mind it can’t burn.

Add a pinch of chili stir for a second, then add the greens, season, stir to heat through and coat with the garlic and oil. Taste the greens, they should taste pleasantly seasoned with salt, and scented with garlic.

Heat the greens until hot throughout, taste again and adjust the seasoning, then serve with lemon on the side, and extra olive oil if you like.

Top 6 wild greens recipes from across the web

The most viewed wild greens recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

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Pickled Mustard Greens, Chinese Sty...

Roman-Style Wild Greens (with raisi...

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Top 6 wild greens recipes from across the web

The most viewed wild greens recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Pickled Mustard Greens, Chinese Sty...

Roman-Style Wild Greens (with raisi...

Easy Steamed Greens

Sichuan rice bowls with wild greens

Squirrel Stew with Paprika and Gree...

Cicoria in Padella (Greens with Gar...

The most viewed wild greens recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine