From The Four-Season Farm Gardener’s Cookbook by Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman, here’s a beautiful way to prepare beet greens that features a welcome dash of smoke. . . .
“This dish is good when made with beet greens of any size, whether small bunches from a thinned row or the tops of mature beets that you will be storing in the cellar. Teaming them up with scallions, bacon, and maple syrup has won over many a greens-hater. They are especially tasty when served alongside a hearty piece of meat, but if it’s pork, omit the bacon. Keep in mind that beet stems bleed just the way the roots do, and will color pale foods such as fish.”
2 ounces slab bacon or salt pork, cut into ¼-inch cubes (¼ cup) 1 pound beet greens, leaves sliced into ribbons and stems cut into 2-inch pieces 1 bunch scallions (about 6 ounces), both white and green parts cut into 2-inch pieces 1½ tablespoons maple syrup Salt and freshly ground black pepper1. Sauté the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring, until the pieces crisp uniformly and cook to a tan color, about 7 minutes. Remove the bacon pieces to a plate with a slotted spoon and set them aside, leaving the bacon fat in the skillet.
2. Add the beet greens, beet stems, and scallions to the skillet, cover, and cook over low heat, stirring from time to time, until the beet stems are tender and the scallions have turned slightly golden, 15 to 25 minutes, depending on the size and age of the greens.
3. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the maple syrup and the reserved bacon. Season with salt (if needed—the bacon might be salty enough) and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
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A lush, four-season cookbook that’s also a primer on growing what you eat, from America’s foremost authorities on organic gardening. Click here to meet the authors and tour the Four Season Farm. (“The Land That Keeps Giving,” by Anne Raver of The New York Times.)
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