When it comes to nutritional value, dark leafy greens win. Getting enough of them? Sometimes challenging, unless you’re eating gigantic salads (and even then it’s hard to eat more than two cups IMO). Because they significantly reduce in volume, it’s easier to eat more when they’re sautéed.
Next step: make them flavorful. No one wants to eat plain steamed greens, let’s be real. You don’t need a ton of ingredients, they just need pack a punch- roasted garlic (see my link on how to make roasted garlic- it’s sooo easy I swear!), ginger, extra virgin olive oil, and lemon juice.
This recipe can be used on any leafy green- kale, spinach, Swiss chard, collards, beet greens, or a combination. It’s my go to when I have leftover greens.
Easiest Sautéed Greens with Roasted Garlic
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1 bunch greens of your choice (~3-4 loosely packed cups) (kale, spinach, swiss chard, collards, beet greens, or a combination)
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1-2 tablespoons olive oil (enough to generously coat bottom of pan)
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2-3 cloves roasted garlic (see recipe here)
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2 teaspoons grated ginger
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sea salt
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small handful of toasted pine nuts
Pine Nuts & Roasted Garlic: I tend to do this ahead of time and make a big batch for the week. To make pine nuts, dry roast in oven at 375 for 6-8 minutes, until golden.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add in oil, garlic, and ginger. Sometimes I’ll add in a diced shallot here too if I have it. Once pan is hot, add in greens and lower heat to a low-medium flame. I’ve found that results are best if I saute the greens over a long period of time (like 15 minutes) over a low heat until greens are wilted and significantly reduced in size. If I’m impatient, I will do a steam-saute method that takes about 5ish minutes. To do this, add a tablespoon of water to the pan and cover (while it is over medium heat) until the greens are significantly reduced in size, about 2 minutes. Remove cover and keep heat on medium until water has evaporated fully and greens are wilted.