Tackling Bittman in his Dandelion Greens for St. Patrick?s Day!

Dandelions and garlic are a perfect marriage in the spring!

The Amazing Cookbook by The New York Times Food Writer and Minimalist Mark Bittman

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Remember! The Tackling Bittman and His Buddies Blog Hop is open all month and now accepts any cookbook recipes so please stop by and link up a recipe or two or more and share your cookb00k favorites with us all month long!

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As a child, I always claimed St. Paddy’s Day as my own. Not because I was Irish, though I did have strawberry blonde hair and freckles and looked decidedly Irish, which was suprising for a child that was half Greek and half English. My father informed me that since his people came from northern Greece they tended towards fair hair and skin, but he was certainly dark skinned so I guess I took after my grandmother. I digress though, I took over St. Paddy’s Day because my birthday was only 3 days before hand on Pi Day, which was also Albert Einstien’s birthday, or better known as the day before the Ides of March, when Julius Caesaer was assassinated.

St. Paddy’s Day seemed like a much better day, and so I claimed it as my own personal holiday. That said, I was never one for the green food. Other than green jello as a child, or the infrequent green beer as an adult, I wasn’t too partial to green food coloring. I would much rather get my green the natural way, with vegetables!

I knew that everyone under the sun would be making some form of St. Paddy’s Day fare today, so I decided to shy away from cabbage or potatoes or corned beef, though I did want to cook something green. I was at the grocers and they had some lovely dandelion greens and it is spring time, when eating dandelion helps to cleanse the liver and get rid of all those winter doldrums, so I thought, what could be better for St. Paddy’s Day, only a few days before the Spring Equinox and the classic commencement of a spring cleanse, than dandelion greens?

Some folks do not care for the earthy flavor of any dark greens, and dandelions have a distinctively bitter flavor. This bitterness stimulates bile production in the liver and helps to clean it of toxins that have accumulated over the winter months. Rebecca of Cauldrons and Crockpots and Butter of Hunger and Thirst will be featuring Dandelion in their great new Wild Things round up next month (you should check it out, this month they are featuring evergreen tips). I am simply getting a jump on the action!

I decided to see what Bittman had to say about dandelion greens because I wasn’t even quite sure he would have anything at all to say about them! Then, there on page 315 of How to Cook Everything he discusses turnip, mustard and dandelion greens. All of them are delicious in my book but very pungent in flavor, though they cook up much easier than heavier greens like collards and kale. I figured I would give Bittman’s Dandelion Greens with Double Garlic a try. I had made it before with turnip greens and it was delicious that way, but I wanted to see if the recipe subdued the bitterness of the dandelion greens.

Serves 4

1/4 Cup extra virgin olive oil (I used bacon grease!)

1/4 Cup thinly sliced garlic (5 to 6 large cloves), plus 1 teaspoon minced garlic, or more to taste

1/2 Teaspoon red hot pepper flakes, or to taste

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Pound dandelion greens with stems well washed, dried and coarsely chopped (I left mine about 4 inches long)

1/2 Cup chicken, beef or vegetable stock or water

Lemon wedges for serving (I didn’t have any so I omitted this)

Put the oil in a large, deep saucepan with a id over medium-high heat. When hot, add the slicked garlic, pepper flakes and some salt and pepper and cook for about 1 minute.

Add the greens and stock. Cover and cook until the greens are wilted and just tender, but still a little firm, about 5 minutes.

Uncover the pan and continue to cook, stirring until the liquid is almost all evaporated and the greens are quite tender, at least 5 minutes more. Taste for seasoning and add red or black pepper and salt as needed. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring for one more minute. Serve hot, or at room temperature with lemon wedges if desired.

This recipe was really delicious! The first hit of garlic was mellowed by the cooking and the red pepper flakes got a bit toasty and smoky due to the sauteing in the oil. The second hit of garlic was zingy because it was very lightly cooked. I used bacon grease and this really softened the bitterness of the dandelion greens. Everyone but my youngest daughter who will not even touch greens liked this recipe a lot, and I am certainly going to make it again whenever I have access to young fresh dandelion greens! It was perfect for St. Paddy’s Day and for spring!

Remember, I highly recommend How to Cook Everything By Mark Bittman for ease of use and variety. Even the most traditional cook will get some amazing ideas from it. You can view more information on all Mark Bittman?s terrific cook books at my Stuff I Like on Amazon store, or by clicking the Amazon Banner at the bottom of this page. You can also find great information and more recipes from Mark at his website Mark Bittman, and of course, the New York Times.

Please stop by the first Thursday of every month and join the Tackling Bittman and His Buddies Recipe Hop. This hop is open all month long and you can link up any recipe you made from a cook book. You can also link up more than once, so get to cooking and trying new cookbooks! I just got Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking for my birthday and you KNOW I am going to have to try out some of those amazing recipes. I was so thrilled I jumped up and down! My girls are awesome and they sure know what mommy wants!

The article is a part of Let’s Do Brunch, Grain Free Tuesdays, Tasty Tuesdays, Full Plate Thursday and Simple Lives Thursday.