Winter

Winter greens, from tough to tender

5 min read

From November to March, the market's green table is mostly leaves that can survive a frost: kale, chard, cavolo nero, savoy and red cabbage. They are tougher than summer salad, and that is the point. Treated right, they hold up to heat and strong flavours in a way lettuce never will.

Three techniques

• Massage it: for raw kale, strip the leaves, add salt and a little oil, and squeeze them with your hands for a minute. They darken and soften, and the bitterness fades.
• Blanch, then fry: boil chard or cavolo nero for two minutes, squeeze out the water, then fry with garlic and chilli. Two steps, but the texture is far better.
• Roast it hard: wedges of cabbage roasted at 230 °C until the edges char turn sweet and nutty. Finish with lemon and something salty.

Keeping produce fresh for longer

Most of the waste in a home kitchen happens in the fridge. A few habits help:

• Wrap leafy greens loosely in a damp tea towel and keep them in the crisper drawer.
• Do not wash greens, mushrooms or berries before storing them; wash them just before cooking.
• Keep onions, garlic, potatoes and squash out of the fridge, somewhere cool, dark and dry.
• Store herbs like flowers: stems in a glass of water, loosely covered.