Greens and Peanut Stew

This is one my go-to farm share recipes, particularly early in the season when the cooking greens are flowing fast.  You can use any and all of them in this dish and it will cook down, resulting in a yummy nutritional powerhouse.  It’s also easy to modify based on what you have handy, and I provide several alternatives here.  Go with what you’ve got!

I’ve shared it before elsewhere and in the past few weeks, have had four different people tell me they’ve made this dish.  If you like peanut butter, if you’re not sure how you’ll use up all those beet, turnip, mustard, spinach, kale, and whatever other greens, give this a try.  It freezes well if you want to put it by for later.  I also used it as a pizza topping last year at Firefly with great results.

(I kept putting off posting it here because I didn’t have a good picture, but I’ve let go of that.  This is what I’ve got and I keep forgetting to take a new one.  In the pictured version, I also threw in a drained can of “fried gluten with peanuts” from an Asian market that I had in the pantry.)

Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and diced [Or whatever you’d like to use to add spice. You could use a bell pepper and some hot sauce.]
• 1 large carrot, slivered
• 1 sweet potato, sliced [Butternut or other winter squash works well, too.]
• ~2 cups water or broth
• All the greens!  Washed and chopped or torn into small pieces
• 2-4 Tbsp peanut butter
• Chopped peanuts for garnish
• olive oil
• salt to taste

Do this

1. Sauté the onion in olive oil and a little salt until  softened and translucent
2. Add the peppers and carrots and cook for a few more minutes
3. Add the sweet potato (or squash)
4. Add the broth or water, stir
5. Throw in all the greens!  Depending on the size of your vessel, you may need to do this in batches.  I recommend preparing this dish in a large pot to make this step easier.  Add them in reverse order of cooking time: collards first, then kale, then spinach later.
6. Keep covered until greens cook down significantly, stirring occasionally. Tongs are helpful here. It doesn’t take long.
7. Mix the peanut butter with a little warm water and stir in.  The amount of peanut butter will depend on your volume and how peanutty you want it.  You can always add more.
8. Simmer until everything is as cooked as you like it.
9. Serve over rice with a sprinkle of peanuts.