Plant It Forward

Dandelion Salad Sandwich

Dandelion Salad Sandwich

from The Book of Greens: A Cook's Compendium, by Jenn Louis

Ingredients

  • 2 slices seeded whole-grain bread
  • 1/4 cup [60g] butternut squash puree
  • 1 medium-boiled egg, cut into 8 slices
  • Flaky sea salt
  • 1 ounce [30g] dandelion greens, thick stems discarded and leaves cut into 1/4-inch [6mm] ribbons
  • A few pieces of shallot or red onion, cut paper-thin with a knife or shaved on a mandoline
  • Fresh lemon juice
  • Olive oil

Instructions

  1. Lay the bread slices on a work surface and spread one slice with a good slathering of butternut squash puree. Line up the slices of egg across the puree, then season the egg with the flaky salt. (This sandwich works just as well if you reverse the layers of egg and greens.)
  2. In a bowl, toss the greens and shallot with a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil. Season with salt and toss to coat evenly. Place the greens on top of the egg and close the sandwich with the remaining bread slice. Using a serrated knife, cut in half and enjoy immediately.
https://plant-it-forward.org/dandelion-salad-sandwich/

Green Gumbo

Green Gumbo

Might we suggest adding Egyptian spinach, roselle greens, water spinach, and sweet potato greens to that long list of greens!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup peanut oil, lard or other vegetable oil
  • 1 cup flour
  • 2 cups chopped onion
  • 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
  • 1 cup chopped celery
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 Tbsp Cajun seasoning (see below)
  • 1 ham hock (optional)
  • 10 cups water
  • 3 pounds assorted greens (i.e. kale, collards, mustard greens, turnip greens, spinach, chard, parsley, dandelion greens, beet greens), chopped (about 14 cups)
  • Salt
  • 1 pound smoked andouille sausage (optional)
  • File powder to taste (optional)
  • Cajun Spice Blend
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne
  • 1 teaspoon celery seed
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1 Tbsp garlic powder
  • 2 Tbsp sweet paprika

Instructions

  1. Make the roux: Start the gumbo by making a roux, which will add a lot of flavor and thicken the gumbo. Heat the cup of peanut oil or lard (both are traditional roux ingredients) over medium heat for a minute or two and then stir in the flour. Mix so there are no lumps.
  2. Cook the roux over medium-low heat until it is the color of chocolate. It is your choice how dark you let your roux go. The darker it is, the better, but once the roux gets dark it can burn easily, so you must stir constantly and keep and eye on it.
  3. Heat water to a simmer: While the roux is cooking, bring the 10 cups of water to a simmer.
  4. Add onions, celery, green pepper, then garlic to roux: When the roux is dark enough, mix in the chopped onions, celery and green pepper and turn the heat to medium. Let this cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables soften. Add the garlic and cook another 1-2 minutes.
  5. Add bay leaves, spice, hot water: Add the bay leaves, the Cajun spice and slowly stir in the hot water. The roux will seize up at first, but keep stirring and it will all come together in a silky broth.
  6. Add ham hock, greens, cover and simmer: Add the ham hock and all the greens. Taste for salt, but remember the ham hock will be salty, so let the broth be a little under-salted for now. If you want to add more Cajun spice, do so now. Cover the pot and simmer gently for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
  7. Remove meat from ham hock bones, chop and return to pot: Check the ham hock. If the meat is falling off the bone, remove it, discard the bones, chop the meat and return it to the pot. If the hock is not ready, keep simmering the gumbo; ham hocks don't always cook at the same rate.
  8. Add andouille sausage: Once the hock is ready, add the andouille sausage and cook for another 15 minutes.
  9. Serve with file powder at the table.

Notes

Original Recipe

Join the Plant It Forward Farm Share to eat local and support refugees.

https://plant-it-forward.org/green-gumbo/

Dandelion Greens / Radikia

Dandelion Greens / Radikia

Ingredients

  • 3 bunches of dandelion greens
  • 6-8 cups water
  • 2 heaping teaspoons of salt
  • best quality Greek olive oil
  • lemons

Instructions

  1. In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil. While waiting for water to boil, chop and clean dandelion greens. Cut stalks off approximately an inch or so above the root end and chop greens into manageable sized pieces. Submerge chopped greens in bowl of cold water and swish to get rid of any dirt or sand. Drain off and add to pot of boiling water.
  2. Bring water back up to a rolling boil and cook for 10 minutes until dandelion greens are soft and tender. Transfer cooked greens from your pot, reserving the boiling liquid for dandelion tea.
  3. Dress with good quality Greek olive oil and fresh squeezed lemon juice. Serve with a piece of crusty bread and enjoy!

Notes

Dandelion Greens / Radikia Read all about Greek Vegan cooking and how to use these wonderful vegetables – I don’t usually boil my greens, but the Dande-leon’s do need it. I’ve made this twice, but added garlic and sautéed before serving and my family loved them!!! Seriously! Also, save the cooking water and drink it as a tea, with some honey. It's good hot or cold.

For 2 very good sized servings – infinitely scalable, just cook in batches:

https://plant-it-forward.org/dandelion-greens-radikia/