Greens with Potatoes


Here's the original recipe from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, by Deborah Madison. My notes on how I've personalized the recipe over the years follow.

4 boiling or Yellow Finn potatoes, about 1 pound
Salt
1 to 2 pounds of greens, trimmed and coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1 large garlic clove, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 tomatoes, peeled and diced

Cover the potatoes with cold water, add salt to taste, and bring to a boil. Cook until tender, about 25 minutes. Drain, then peel and coarsely chop. Place a quart of water in a large stockpot or skillet and bring to a boil. Add the greens and a teaspoon of salt, then simmer until tender, 5-20 minutes (the flavor of the greens will mellow with longer cooking). Remove from pan and drain. Return the pan to the heat, add the oil, and heat with the garlic and pepper flakes. When you can smell the garlic, add the greens, potatoes, and tomatoes. Cook over medium heat, breaking up the potatoes and mashing them into the greens to make a kind of rough hash. Taste for salt and serve with olive oil drizzled over the top.

My notes:
  • I never bother peeling the potatoes or the tomatoes.
  • I don't worry too much about the proportions of potatoes to greens. Most recently I used 1 1/2 lbs of yukon gold potatoes and about a pound of greens because that's what I had. The result was more Potatoes with Greens than Greens with Potatoes, but it's good either way!
  • A few generous grinds of fresh black pepper are a nice occasional sub for the crushed red pepper.
  • I like to finish the dish with a squeeze of lemon juice and some freshly grated cheese- most often parmesan, but Asiago is quite good too.