We picked up our first CSA box on Monday, and it was filled with lots of greens, a few other veggies, and some citrus fruit. I love that we’re able to get locally grown, organic produce and support a local farm in the process. Of course, this also means that I never know what I might have to work with for the week, and often, I’m probably going to need to learn about new ingredients along the way.
I’ve never used broccoli greens before, so I thought I’d make them with brown butter and green onions. The chicken was simply seasoned with salt and pepper, seared in a cast iron skillet, and baked in the oven until it was done. I served the chicken over the brown butter greens and poured the extra brown butter over the chicken. It was a huge hit. Yum!
The broccoli greens have a mild broccoli flavor. I did a quick blanch on the stems before adding them to the brown butter as I wanted to use all of the greens and not just the leaves. Turns out that they are quite tasty. The ribs/stems can be a little tough, so they require a little extra cooking.
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp. butter
- 1 bunch broccoli greens, cleaned
- Sea salt (if not using salted butter), to taste
- Black pepper, to taste
- 1 green onion, chopped
Instructions
- Cook the stems in boiling water or steam them until fork tender. This step is optional. Normally, you just remove the tough stems prior to cooking rather than precooking them.
- Heat butter in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat and cook, swirling the pan often, until butter begins to bubble and brown.
- Toss in the chopped green onion and lower the heat to medium. Keep a close eye on the butter and turn down the heat more if needed. It can quickly go from delicious brown butter to burnt butter if you’re not careful.
- Add the broccoli greens (and stems, if desired).
- Stir greens and continue to cook until slightly wilted, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Season with salt (if needed) and pepper.
One of the things that I love about getting CSA boxes is that it’s always an adventure in cooking. I get to try a variety of veggies and fruits as well as learn new cooking techniques. We don’t always like the new veggies or the technique used to cook them, but it’s still fun to continue to try them out. You never know when you’re going to stumble on a new favorite ingredient or cooking technique.
