Saturday – After Market – Breakfast

Breakfast on Saturday is often pretty late, for breakfast. I could call it brunch, but I think of brunch as going out to a nice – usually special – place with Carol. On most Saturdays, I get up, have some juice, go to the Farmers Market, put away the stuff and then think about breakfast. On this day, I started out wanting a poached egg. With what?

beet greens - greens and stems

I had just trimmed the tops off of a bunch of tiny red beets and a bunch of little yellow beets. The greens look good and there really aren’t enough for a real meal. I trimmed and washed and put the beets in the oven to roast and chopped the stems off the greens.
There are two basic ways to cook greens.
Saute in a pan with plenty of olive oil and the water clinging to the washed greens. Call that wilted… takes about 10 minutes. Splash in some vinegar to finish.
Brown some bacon in a pot with a little olive oil. Add a chopped shallot and a bit of garlic. Cook soft. Add the greens, about 3/4 cup water, a tablespoon of sugar and pinch of red pepper flakes. Cover and braise for about 10 minutes. Splash on vinegar and let it sit while you poach your egg.

I did the latter this time.

By the time I did all that, the beets were roasted. I hadn’t planned on that, but hey, now I can have a couple of beets with their greens.

roasted beets

I don’t poach eggs often. I should, it’s EZ quick and good. I had to ask Carol a bunch of questions:
Which pan? The Revere stainless that you always complain about cleaning up after I poach my eggs.
How much water? About 3/4 full.
Just bring to a shimmer? Yes… don’t let it boil.
Cover? Yes.
Leave the heat on? I turn off after about a minute.
How long to cook? Three to four minutes. Take the egg out with a slotted spoon.
I was going to cook three minutes, but I was peeling a beet, so it went to 3 1/2 or so. Too done for my taste, but OK.

Saturday Breakfast... Yum.

Greens
Adapted from Simply Recipes,. Use with any kind of greens

1 bunch greens
1 strip of thick cut bacon, chopped
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 large garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup of water
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
splash of cider vinegar

Wash the greens in a sink filled with cold water. Drain greens and wash a second time. Drain greens and remove any heavy stems. Tear leaves into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

In a 3 qt saucepan, cook bacon until lightly browned. Add onions, cook over medium heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions soften and start to brown. Stir in garlic. Add water to the hot pan, stirring to loosen any particles from bottom of pan. Stir in sugar and red pepper. Continue cooking until mixture boils. Add greens, reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes (up to 30 minutes for kale or collard greens). Stir in vinegar. (For kale or collard greens continue cooking additional 20 to 25 minutes or until desired tenderness.)