Beans & Greens with Onion Spoonbread

Be proud of me! For I am slowly learning to cook greens so they are appetizing and tasty. This has been a long and hard road……kale will someday be loved here. Funny is Ford ate his dinner right up and said he loved it. If he’ll eat kale and not question it, we have a winner.

I was inspired by recipes I saw in the September 2012 issues of Better Homes and Gardens and Urban Farm. A change here and there…and they were my recipes (the beans & greens called for collards ). I hadn’t made a spoonbread before. Cornbread and me have never jibed well…I don’t know, it is either too fatty (cheese) or dry. I get that it goes well with chili (and chili isn’t my pick of soups to eat either). The beans & greens recipe was served with cornbread croutons (so even drier cornbread? Yeck!), the spoonbread sounded like it might taste good. And did it ever…if all cornbread tasted like this, I’d have been a fan years ago. Although it isn’t exactly “healthy”, I decided to indulge in the ingredients. I have started using cultured butter in my non-vegan recipes of late. It gives a taste like nothing else.

Beans & Greens

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 sweet onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 15 ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 bunch spinach (attached at the stems)
• 1 bunch kale (used dinosaur kale I think)
• Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
• ¼ tsp each fine sea salt and ground black pepper

Directions:

Tear the spinach leaves off the stems, strip the kale leaves off the stem. Soak in a large sink full of cold water to remove any grit. pull out gently, transfer to a colander, then drain sink. Pat dry on paper towels. Rip into bite size pieces.

Heat a large skillet over medium. Add 1 Tablespoon oil and onion, cook for 5 minutes, until tender. Stir in 2 Tablespoon vinegar, add the beans and heat through. Transfer to a bowl, cover to keep warm.

Return the skillet to the stove, add the remaining oil and all the greens. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper, let wilt, tossing gently to keep the greens cooking. When a lovely deep green color and wilted, stir in the remaining vinegar and take off the heat.

Divide the greens between the plates, grate a little cheese on top, top with the beans and more cheese if desired.

Serves 4.

Onion Spoonbread

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 small sweet onion, peeled and chopped
• 2/3 cup cornmeal
• 2 cups milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
• ¾ cup frozen corn, roasted if you can find it, thawed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425° and lightly grease an 8×8″ glass baking dish with butter.

In a large saucepan over medium melt the butter, sauté the onion in it till tender. Stir in 1½ cups milk and cornmeal, whisking constantly till it thickens. Take off the heat and stir in the corn.

Beat the remaining milk with the eggs, add in the alt and baking powder. Beat this into the corn mixture, Scrape into the prepared pan and smooth out.

Bake for 25 minutes, until golden on top.

Serves 4.

~Sarah