Eating Weeds

If you go to the farmers market this weekend, pick up some weed.

I was intrigued by a big bin of a flowering weed at the farmers market today.  "Its called Satin Flower," the girl selling her wares told me.  She had a enthusiastic look on her face and dirty hands like she had dug the stuff out of the dirt right before she came over to talk to me.  "Since I've been eating it, I've had so much energy and I've been jumping out of bed at the crack of dawn every morning."  With that enthusiasm and salesmanship, how could I say no?  I asked her what I should do with it and she said to throw it into a salad or blend it into a smoothie. 

So this week I'm focusing on a Satin Flower salad.  At the same stand I purchased some baby red cabbage and chiogga beets.  Tossed with a little goat cheese, olive oil and salt this salad was so good. Keith said it reminded him of the clover he used to pick out of the grass and eat when he was a kid.  I agree.  It did have that similar taste of clover, nutty grassy and a little sweet.  We'll see how early I pop out of bed tomorrow.

After doing a bit of research on Satin Flower, I found out its more common name is Chickweed.  Chickweed or Satin Flower are used as folk remedy to treat a range of things including skin irritants, metabolism-balancing, asthma and indigestion.  In addition its a great source of vitamin A and C potassium and calcium and many others. 

So if your at the market this weekend or next, pick up some of this little know edible lawn weed gem, or some other green you have never heard of and toss it in a salad. 

Golden Beet and Blood Orange Fennel Salad

I don't Love beets. I feel like everybody has a really strong opinion about them; it's one of those things you love or you hate. I don't. I really like beets when every bite is accompanied by goat cheese. I guess I could say that about a lot of things. I think it's really the texture of beets that throws me off a bit. Now that I'm thinking about it, I havn't really given them much of a chance other than your typical overused menu item: "roasted beet salad with goat cheese and some kind of nut." I'm trying something new for me, a recipe with beets and no cheese. Golden Beets with Blood Orange and Fennel Salad. I think it sounds delicious. I'm excited about the citrus with the fennel alongside the sweetness of the beets. Maybe this recipe will turn me around.

Recipe for Blood Orange, Beet and Fennel Salad
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This week's basket had golden beets, romaine lettuce, apples, bok choy, rainbow carrots and again more pears. I've been waiting for some beets because I love their color and look. I don't know why, but my home delivery service likes to chop off the tops of the root veggies. I'm a bit baffled by that since using tops like beet greens are a great second use for beets. Total waste in my opinion. So, I had to make a run to Central Market for some more beets.

Cooking with beet greens:

Beet greens are similar to Chard or Kale. I cook them the same way I love to cook spinach. The younger and smaller the beets, the softer the texture of the beet green will be.

Sauteed Beet Greens, Spinach or Kale

1 bunch washed and drained greens

1-3 cloves garlic minced

Olive oil

Lemon juice

Salt

Heat oil in a deep skillet. Add garlic and give a quick saute. Add greens and cook down until wilted.  For spinach, I add the lemon and salt and take off the heat and serve right away.  For Kale and Beet greens, I let them cook just a minute or two in the pan covered.