Posted by kathryn in Vegetables and Recipes

This is a side dish I make a lot – it’s quick, easy, incredibly good for you and very tasty, which are four very good things from one recipe. One of the most exciting things at my dinner party (for me anyway), was how enthusiastically everyone tucked into this dish – in fact it was the greens that disappeared first!

Green vegetables are supremely good for you – they contain iron, folate, magnesium and calcium, but they’re also packed full of antioxidants like beta-carotene. lutein and vitamin C. In many studies, it’s the green vegies that are found to be the best at maintaining good long-term health (see here, here).

This is a pretty loose recipe and you can make it with whatever green vegies are in season. I prepped the vegetables and cooked the silverbeet early, which I then tossed with ice to cool down and put everything back in the fridge, before finishing just prior to serving.

I don’t have a very good photo of the greens, but they’re in the large serving dish at the back of this photo . . .

Mixed seasonal greens

You can use a whole range of vegies for this – silverbeet, spinach, rocket, watercress, broccolini, Chinese cabbage, cos lettuce, radicchio, endive, bok choy, as well as herbs like basil, mint, dill, parsley, coriander. Use whatever you fancy and whatever is fresh and in season.

I managed to get beautiful young and juicy silverbeet, so I just chopped off the long end of the white stalk (up to where the green leaf starts), discarded this bit and cut the rest of the leaf into rough 10cm sections. If your silverbeet is older, the stalk can be a bit woody and so I’d remove it and cook first, for a few minutes longer than the leaf. Serves 12 as a side dish.

• 2 bunches silverbeet, as above
• 1 bunch rocket
• 1/2 bunch basil
• 1/2 bunch coriander
• 2 bunches asparagus
• Juice of 1 lemon

Wash all the leafy vegies and herbs and tear into large chunks. Snap the ends off the asparagus and discard.

Leafy greens let off quite a bit of moisture when they’re heated, so I tend to wash them, shake dry and then put straight into a dry pan, stirring frequently. You may need to do this in batches if you have a lot of leaves, draining each batch as you go.

Once you’ve cooked the silverbeet and left it to drain, heat about 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large frypan or wok, add the asparagus and toss around until coated with the oil. Cover with a lid or large plate and leave undisturbed for 2 minutes.

Take the lid off and add the cooked silverbeet, along with the rocket and herbs. Cook, stirring frequently (I used tongs to move the vegies around), for 3 – 4 minutes. Remove from the heat, season and then add the lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve immediately.

See the full dinner party menu here.

05 January, 2007