By Elena del Valle
Food photos by Gary Cox

The Complete Leafy Greens Cookbook*

According to many reputable sources, leafy greens such as collard greens, kale, Brussels sprouts, Swiss chard and their kin are at the heart of a healthy and nutritious regime. For us, purchasing, identifying and eating greens has proved challenging at times. Becoming familiar with the different varieties and how to buy them was a first step. Next, knowing how to eat them to their best advantage requires additional effort and knowledge. Sometimes they are bitter, chewy or tough in their raw state. Other times they’re boring. Some leafy greens need preparation to become palatable. We turned to The Complete Leafy Greens Cookbook 67 Leafy Greens & 250 Recipes (Robert Rose, $27.95), a newly published cookbook by Susan Sampson, for information and recipe ideas. 

Kale leaves cleaned and ready to make crisps

We made kale crisps with sesame seeds following a recipe in the book

The Complete Leafy Greens Cookbook is a softcover 480-page book filled with nutritional information, easy to read recipes and color photos. The leafy greens we wanted to learn more about were collard greens, baby bok choy and kale.

Susan Sampson, author, The Complete Leafy Greens Cookbook*

For example, we had been eating kale crisps for a while when we first came across the Cookbook. Its kale crisps recipe was similar to the one we were using. One of the options suggested in the book was to add sesame seeds. We tried it and liked it. The sesame seeds add a crunchy nutty flavor to the crisps and a twist to the everyday plain crisps.

The grilled baby bok choy with soy glaze

The collard greens cooked in beef broth while not pretty were delicious

We also sampled the Kaleslaw recipe. It required relatively little time and offered yet another way to supplement our diet with nutritious kale. The Old School Collard Greens were delicious (we used beef broth). Next, we tried the Baby Bok Choy with Soy Glaze recipe which required Shaoxing cooking wine. We grilled the baby bok choy on the barbeque grill instead of cooking it in a bowl as the recipe indicated. It was quite nice although the leaves were a bit chewy. Next time, we’ll slice the large ones into quarters instead of halves. The soy glaze seems promising to use in other dishes to add a dash of flavor. Although we excluded pepper, chili paste and spicy hot condiments from the recipes we prepared we liked them. They were all worth repeating.

*Photos: robertorse.ca

Click to buy The Complete Leafy Greens Cookbook