Vegetarian « (y)our food choices™

Eat your green veggies.

Steve’s first taste of cooked greens came in the late-‘80s. They were prepared in a modest home somewhere in central Florida (Tampa? Ruskin?) and they were amazing. It would be years after those first tastes before he rediscovered collard and mustard greens. Our diets improved dramatically when we moved to San Francisco in the mid‘90s in part because we started including fresh, bold greens into our grocery routine thanks to all the ease of access created by the purveyors in our neighborhood. And unlike the way greens are cooked in the South, long and slow, when you cook them the California way, they’re a quick sauté, spending time on heat just long enough to become a little tender while still chewy.

Mustard greens are sharp with their peppery, spicy and slightly bitter flavors – perfect with olive oil, garlic and chili pepper flakes. These greens are real “super food” that delivers impressive quantities of vitamins and minerals in a single serving. They’re delicious added to hearty soups and clear broth noodle soups. They can be baked in gratins or shredded and added to stir fry. We like them pan cooked in hot olive oil. They retain their bite and their herbaceousness when cooked quickly at high heat until just wilted.

Pan wilted greens make a perfect side to rich meat dishes. The astringent greens cut nicely through the sweet puree adorning the roast as well as the cheesy polenta that we served with it.

Sauted Greens

1 bunch mustard greens, kale, or chard
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large garlic clove
pinch of red pepper flakes
salt and pepper

Wash the leaves and remove the stems. The stems can be used in the sauté, or frozen for another use, or composted. If using the stems, cut into small pieces and sauté for 5 minutes before proceeding.

Roll the leaves together and cut into 1” ribbons. Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan. Smash the garlic and cut into large pieces (at the stems at this point if you’re using them, add to the hot oil, cook for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant, along with the red pepper flakes if using and cook for 10 seconds then add the greens. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, turning with tongs. Add a little water, about 2-3 tablespoons, to the pan along with the greens to avoid burning the garlic. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for another 5 minutes. Check the pan often and add more water if necessary to make sure the pan doesn’t dry out. Check the salt and pepper and re-season if necessary.

Raw beet salad. Crunchy, sweet, and healthy, perfect for holiday gatherings.

It’s December 1st today and only thirty days remain in the year before it’s time to get back in the gym and back on that diet. No more excuses and no more vices will be your motto before you know it. So, you can either go balls to the wall and eat, drink, be merry and then feel hung over for the next thirty days or you can take a few small steps now to slowly get back on the wagon, a little ahead of schedule, while at the same time enjoying your holidays.

In the past we’ve been the balls to the wall types, eating and drinking like every night in December was our last night on earth. Two, even three bottles of wine a night, along with full dinners including appetizers and dessert and then, to top the night off, we finished with a Scotch. If we wanted to be really bad, we’d have another one. While the hangovers were horrendous, we always seemed to be ready to go again the next night and the night after that, until the magic date–December 31–when suddenly, at midnight, we would give up every bad habit and get back into the world of healthy living.

This last couple of weeks we have taken a few small steps to get back into shape. Running a couple days a week, along with completing the outdoor parcourse (fitness trail) around the polo fields, has been a nice way to reincorporate fitness into our routine. Although we are still enjoying a martini or two when we do go out, we’re drinking less this year than in years past. Our days of excess at any expense seem to be over and our lives of moderation and comfort seem to have finally arrived. Could it be, now that we’re both in our forties, we feel a need to behave like grown ups? NO!

Hopefully, even with the parties and dinners out, we’ll continue to run and exercise. We still have a lot of celebratory toasts to make and plenty of rich holiday fare to eat and that means getting up off our butts and moving. All those pies, hams, cookies and cheese balls will be with us far to long into the new year if we don’t work them off now. And hell, we want to look and feel good out there on January 1st when we join the rest of our breathless neighbors out on the Golden Gate Park horse trails for our resolution run.

We’re talking about incorporating more raw vegan dishes into our culinary repertoire next year, along with fruit and vegetable juices, a greater diversity of whole grains and lots and lots of hearty greens. We’re not vegetarians and we don’t advocate vegetarian or vegan diets as a permanent way of life, but we appreciate the wisdom in modest meat consumption. So, we’re going to play with high protein vegetable dishes in the new year. We’ll share them with you here and invite you to share your New Year food choices.

So even though the rest of December’s blog posts will feature a lot of cookies, chocolates, cakes, and maybe even a pie, remember that secretly we are working out and eating a somewhat healthy diet this season … with cocktails!

We took this recipe from epicurious.com. Even though the recipe is great the way it is, we’re looking forward to experimenting with different vinegars and oils.

Raw Beet Salad

2 tablespoons Sherry wine vinegar

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

5 tablespoons safflower oil

3 large raw beets, peeled, coarsely grated — using a food processor is quickest and easiest!

Whisk vinegar and mustard in large bowl. Gradually whisk in oil, then mix in beets. Season with salt and pepper.