Thursday, May 28, 2015

Tarted Up Spinach and Beet Greens

Not too long ago, I did a sponsored post for Cut 'n Clean Greens, which fulfilled my obligation to them. It didn't however, take care of the vast amount of greens they sent me. I'm beginning to turn a little bit green here.

But it's oh-so-healthy, right?

I grabbed a container that was labeled spinach and beet green salad, but I wasn't planning on using it as salad. I love spinach - but mostly I love it cooked. Much of the time, it's just spinach and lemon, but another one of my favorites is spinach with hot bacon dressing.

That recipe dates back to when my mom used to gather dandelion greens in the early spring, and she'd make hot bacon dressing. Since the dandelions needed to be picked before they flowered, we usually only had them once a year. And that's about the only time we had the hot bacon dressing.

Once in a while, though, we'd have spinach with hot bacon dressing. While I don't go picking dandelions in the spring like my mom did, I make spinach salad once in a while.

This is similar to that salad, but instead of bacon, I used butter for the richness. And, well, to cook the onions. The flavor in his dish is cleaner and crisper because it doesn't have the smoke flavor from the bacon.

The wine vinegar gives it a nice sharpness, and the sugar counters it with a little bit of sweet. If you want to veer into sweet-sour flavor, you can add more sugar.

It also has interesting color from the beet greens,which turned the onions a pretty pink. It's not just a bowl of green.

While the original dish was called a salad, it was really more of a side dish. You'd serve it with a meal, and not ahead of it.

Tarted Up Spinach and Beet Greens

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Several grinds black pepper
Pinch of sugar
2 tablespoons wine vinegar
1 onion, diced
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 8-ounce package Cut 'n Clean Greens spinach and beet green salad

Melt the butter on medium heat in a saute pan. Add the onion and salt. Cook, stirring, until the onions soften.

Add the greens, pepper, sugar, and wine vinegar.

Cook, turning the greens with tongs, until they wilt evenly. Taste and add more salt, sugar, or pepper, if desired.

This is done as soon as the greens are wilted, but if you prefer, you can continue cooking until the greens soften even more - it's up to you.

Serve hot.

I received the greens from Cut 'n Clean Greens at no cost to me for use in a previous post. I was not expected or required to write about them again.
Yum