Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine - May/June 2022

COMPASS FAVORITE RECIPES
MAY/JUNE 2022 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 32
STEVE JOST
Surrounded by
Fresh GREEN
Leafy Vegetables!
by Mary Heckrotte
It’s Saturday morning, fresh veggie day in most
towns and villages across the Caribbean. Several
cruising women from here, there, and everywhere
gather around a basket filled with tied bundles of footlong,
tender, curly, green leaves. “What’s this?” asks
one woman, picking up a bunch and smelling of it.
“Spinach,” someone in the group replies.
“Oh, that’s callaloo,” says a woman who is brown as
a nut from her years sailing in the Caribbean sun.
“They make some great soup out of that in Trinidad.”
“Acelgas,” says the dark-eyed shopkeeper, quietly,
as he seems intimidated by such a crowd of
chattering gringas.
“Nuh-uh. Ain’t neither one. It’s collard greens,” says
a drawling voice.
A cruising lady with big earrings and fluffy permed
hair sniffs, “That is most definitely Swiss chahhhd.”
I’m pretty sure she’s saying Swiss chard.
Turns out the shopkeeper knows his veggies — and
so does Ms. Boston. Acelgas is the Spanish name for
Swiss chard and that’s exactly what fills the vendor’s
basket. Chard is a type of beet grown not for its root
but for its broad leaves that taste much like spinach.
But its name really doesn’t matter much, as few
vegetables are as interchangeable as “greens.” In the
Appalachian mountains, folks eat turnip and beet
greens, poke salat, and
even dandelion leaves,
while “down South” their
cousins eat collard greens
by the bale. In places
with a Mediterranean,
Latin, or Middle-Eastern
influence, spinach and
Swiss chard get top
billing in dishes such as
Risotto with Swiss Chard
and Walnuts, or Halibut
with Chard and Ginger
Cream Sauce. And yes, in
Trinidad the soup made
from callaloo, or dasheen
leaves, is all the rage. In
Chinese dishes you’re
likely to find greens called
pak choy or bokchoy.
While botanic differences
do exist, no matter which
greens you may be
accustomed to, you can
usually substitute the
local variety in most
recipes. That is indeed
If you don’t recognize the
greens in the market,
ask the vendor how
to prepare them
handy here in the
Caribbean, where climates and customs vary to produce
many types of greens.
Greens are basically grouped into two categories:
mild and aggressive, though the dividing line is easy to
fudge. Mild greens include spinach, Swiss chard, pak
choy, bokchoy and kale. The stronger-flavored greens
are collards, turnip, and mustard. The culinary
difference is far more noticeable when you eat
uncooked greens and, you’ll agree, the milder ones are
decidedly more pleasing. Though they don’t taste
particularly good raw, aggressive greens end up a
great deal more docile, competing nicely with the
milder varieties, if you change their cooking water and
cook them longer.
Note that some aggressive greens, such as pokeweed,
are poisonous when raw, and callaloo eaten raw is like
eating fiberglass shards due to its oxalic acid content.
For cruisers, the only disadvantage of greens is that
they require considerable water for washing. Just
running water over them in a colander won’t remove
the clinging garden dirt. Instead, cut off the heavy
stems and plunge the leaves into a pot of water treated
with a few drops of iodine or household bleach to
disinfect them. (You’ll find that lukewarm water
removes dirt faster than cold water.) Swirl the leaves
about, let the water settle a minute, and then lift them
out. Repeat this procedure two times in plain water. If
you plan to eat the greens raw, pat them dry with
paper towels. Store washed greens wrapped in a paper
towel and placed in the refrigerator in a perforated
plastic bag.
When cooking greens, always use an enamel,
glass, or stainless steel pot. Aluminum or copper
pots react with sulfur compounds in the greens,
destroy the folic acid, Vitamin C, and Vitamin E, and
result in an unpleasant odor and bitter taste.
Another method of reducing cooking odors is to add
a whole walnut to your cooking water. Remember
that greens cook down to about three-fourths of their
original volume so be sure that you cook enough.
One pound of greens will measure approximately two
cups when cooked.
Tender greens are delicious just steamed, wilted,
sautéed, microwaved, or braised. These can be simply
dressed with oil and vinegar or butter and lemon juice.
Very young spinach, dandelion leaves, or Swiss chard
can be added to or serve as the base for salads. The
cooked stems from these young greens are excellent
with any cream sauce. Stems from older or stronger
greens go fine in soups or stews if you first blanch
them to take the bitter taste out. If you cook greens
and plan to use them as a filling with other ingredients,
they should be squeezed dry and chopped. The liquid
you squeeze out, full of good nutrients, can be added
to stews or soups.
Greens are low in calories and sodium, and have no
fat or cholesterol. They’re high in fiber, calcium,
Vitamin E, ascorbic acid, Vitamin C, and Beta-
Carotene. What could be better? Since there’s not a
doubt in anyone’s mind that greens are good for us,
it’s worth the effort to discover new ways to combine
them with other ingredients to make the most of their
flavor. Surrounded as we are by the abundance of
fresh greens available throughout the Caribbean, we
definitely don’t have to resort to eating Popeye’s plain
canned spinach. With a cruiser’s inherent sense of
just “making do” with what’s on hand, we can
substitute one kind of greens for another in recipes to
our heart’s content — and health.
Tender Greens Pie
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large bunch Swiss chard, spinach,
kale or other mild greens
6 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon salt
cracked pepper to taste
1 cup shredded cheddar, Swiss, Monterey jack or
other cheese
2 unbaked piecrusts
—Continued on next page
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