Broccoli Rising and Green Day
Welcome back, loyal Broccoli Rising subscribers, and welcome, welcome, welcome to you, new Broccoli Rising subscribers.
Happy New Year! How did you celebrate? My heartfelt wish is for 2025 to bring you all kinds of fabulous things. We’re one week in — how’s it going so far? For a jump start on fabulousness, not to mention wellness and sustainability, start the new year right — take the Veganuary pledge and join the plant-based tribe.
I wrote about Veganuary for HuffPost when it began a decade ago, and it’s gone from an earnest idea to a mega-movement offering free resources galore, from plant-based recipes to insights and inspiration from vegan celebs like Billie Eilish.
Another way to make 2025 your best year ever is by enjoying greens. Let me be your guide.
I won’t start the new year without collard greens in or with hopping john. Folklore has long held that eating the magical combination of rice and black-eyed peas, on New Year’s Day brings good luck. Having collards in the mix only ups your ante.
I don’t have to explain this to award-winning Lowcountry chefs Kevin Mitchell, Keith Rhodes, Amethyst Ganaway and the Gullah Diva herself, Sallie Ann Robinson. Greens, rice and beans may well be the holy trinity of Gullah Geechee foodways. The chefs showed off what these so-called humble regional foods can do at Charleston’s recent black tie gala, the Gullah Convening, celebrating and preserving Gullah Geechee traditions, culture, and cuisine.
I’m a Miami girl, but between Christmas and New Year’s, Benjamin and I crammed our fancy party clothes into carry-ons and flew to Charleston to be part of this first-ever event. Look how nice we clean up for a party.
Greens are party-worthy every day of the year. Kale, collards, turnip greens, and mustard greens are anti-inflammatory and immunity enhancing, rich in antioxidants, plus vitamins C and A, iron, calcium and folate. They reduce your risk of cancer, heart disease and brain fog, and generally help slough off the scruffiness. And greens are all about the value-add. One pound yields a whole lotta green goodness. So what do you do with them?
Start by making up a mess of greens. It’s quicker and easier than you think. Crystal Wilkinson is Kentucky poet laureate and a poet in the kitchen for sure. Follow her instructions for a perfect pot of greens.
A Mess o’ Meatless Greens
Ask anybody in my family and they will say, “There ain’t nothing like a mess o’ greens.” My grandmother would more often than not cook a combination of them: mustard, turnip, and kale. She would throw in some wild greens, too, when she had them on hand.
These are not the ham hock or fatback greens of my childhood. Yet they are just as satisfying and perhaps a bit more healthful—it ain’t my place to say. Making a good pot of greens calls for careful seasoning and the right combination of oil and cooking method. I like my greens with a little heft in them now, but certainly not like the raw greens I’m often served in restaurants, especially in the North. Collards were not the greens of choice up on the creek, but they can be used here. The sautéed method will give you a nice wilted, softened mess of greens that makes a tasty side dish, but you can also achieve the old-fashioned pot likker with vegetable broth as the recipe below calls for.
Serves 4 to 6
1½ to 2 pounds kale, turnip, and/or mustard greens
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon table salt, plus more as needed
4 cups (1 quart) vegetable broth, homemade or store-bought (32 ounces; you might not need it all)
Freshly ground black pepper
To prep your greens, first strip the leaves from their stalks. (This includes any pre-chopped greens, which are often full of stalks.) Discard or save them for another use; stalks are edible but are not used in this recipe.
Rinse the leaves well in cold water, even if they’re bagged and prewashed, discarding any discolored ones. (There is nothing worse than sandy greens, and I’ve had many in fancy restaurants, but we won’t dwell on that.) Stack and roll the leaves, then cut them into 1-inch-wide ribbons. Or if you are fond of the tearing method, tear bits of leaves apart instead of cutting.
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring often, until the onion is translucent. Season with the salt.
Add your ribbons (or torn leaves) of greens to the pot a handful at a time. As they wilt down, add just enough of the broth to keep the greens from scorching. Add a little more liquid each time as they cook down (they should not be completely submerged, however). Cook the greens, uncovered, for 5 to 10 minutes, until they are tender but not mushy. Taste and season with more salt if necessary and/or pepper.
Serve hot, with some of their pot likker.
Great by themselves, maybe with cornbread, a pot of greens is also your gateway to more green greatness:
Upgrade your avo toast with a spoon of greens
Add them to scrambled tofu
Mix them into beans or whole grains
Use them for this quick, easy collard dip. It’s a sure way to get kids — and grownups — to eat their greens.
Green Day Dip
Fast and fun, this dip gets you a double dose— collard’s green goodness plus a punch of probiotics from the yogurt.
The gentle spices mellow out any bitterness in the greens.
Switch it up by substituting collards for another sturdy green.
Try it with 2 tablespoons of tahini in place of the olive oil, and replace lime juice with lemon.
I’m telling you, it’s good every way. Serve with your favorite vegetables, slather on toast or crackers.
2 cups cooked collards, drained of any potlikker
2 cloves garlic
2- inch piece fresh ginger
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
dash cayenne if desired
1 cup unsweetened plant-based yogurt (I’m liking Forager a lot these days)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 handful cilantro
sea salt and fresh ground pepper
In a Vitamix of food processor, blitz together the collards, garlic and ginger till you have a relatively smooth paste.
Add the cumin, coriander, optional cayenne and yogurt. Blitz again for a minute or so, or until the ingredients are creamy and well combined.
Pour in the olive oil in a slow stream and squeeze in the lime juice. Add the cilantro. Blitz again till smooth, then season well with sea salt and pepper.
Two other means to greens:
Collard Tacos with Roasted Sweet potatoes and Onions (Paid subscribers can find this recipe below. Not subscribed yet? Subscribe now to get all the added benefits!)
May 2025 bring you great green days and nights.
January 10 Miami Mocktail Fest for Dry January
January 20 Martin Luther King Jr. Day
January 25 11am-1pm Edible South Florida turns 25! Come celebrate at Legion Park with a seed swap from Miami Seed Share.
Legion Park Farmers Market
6601 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, FL
January 29 Lunar New Year