Eat Your Greens!

New year, new resolutions. Here at I Love Cooking, we’re determined to eat our greens. At some point over the last decade, green vegetables went from pale, flaccid items that were shoved to the side of the dinner plate to the main event. Everywhere we look these days, people are shoving kale into their omelettes, broccoli into their breakfast juice and Brussels into their… well, people still hate their sprouts.

What has spawned this quiet revolution? Well, health benefits for a start. Green veg is chock full of antioxidants, iron and all kinds of good stuff like fibre to make your life that bit more energy filled. Ultimately, it’s down to foodie fashion, but here at I Love Cooking, we’re delighted, because (*whisper it*) we’ve always loved green veg. Even the soggy cabbage our Granny used to give us.

We follow one simple rule when it comes to greens:

Do Not Over Cook

Here’s our favourite ways to eat our favourite greens:

Brussels Sprouts:

Par boil, pop in an oven-proof dish and smother in cheese sauce made with Gruyere and shards of crispy bacon. Top with breadcrumbs mixed with fresh thyme and Parmesan, and cook in a moderate oven (180°C/350°F/gas mark 4) for 35 minutes until golden, bubbling and delicious.

Cabbage:

Shred a Savoy cabbage and stir fry with garlic, ginger and finely chopped red chilli for a few minutes before shaking in a dash of soy sauce.

Kale:

Make kale crisps by preheating the oven to 150C/350F/gas mark 2. Line a large sheet with greaseproof paper. Place 2 large handfuls of torn kale leaves in a single layer on the paper. Spritz with olive oil spray, some grated Parmesan and lots and lots of sea salt. Bake for 25 minutes or until crisp.

Broccoli:

Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of a frying pan. Pop three whole but peeled garlic cloves into the pan and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes, or until softened. Add the broccoli to the pan. Cover and reduce the heat to medium/low. Cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat and leave covered for 3 minutes. Remove the garlic before serving.

Spinach:

Heat 2 tbsp sesame oil in a large pan and add 2 cloves garlic, crushed. Stir in a bag of baby spinach leaves and cook for a minute until wilted. Stir in 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp soy sauce and sprinkle with sesame seeds before serving.