Winter Greens and Squash in Coconut Milk

Happy New Year Everyone!

I've been way too busy enjoying the wacky 50 to 60 degree temperatures we've had in PA these past couple months, celebrating birthdays, and the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays with family.  But it's good to be back!

Now that temperatures are back to our typical frosty January days, seems like a great time for a cozy winter vegetable recipe!

On New Year's Day I watched a news program that said that the #2 'How to' Google search in 2015 was "How to make kale chips?"  And #8 was "How to cook collard greens?"  Ha! Can you believe that?  Who knew these two would be such sexy veggies??

So if you still wanted to jump on that kale or collard green bandwagon but have been unsure how to do it outside of all the hype about kale chips, here's a great tasting way to work them into your meal.

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Winter Greens and Squash in Coconut Milk

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped fine
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
5 cloves garlic minced
2 tsp grated fresh ginger (or little more if using dried powder)
1 tsp curry powder
1 bunch (4-5 leaves) kale or collard greens, stemmed and chopped
1 cup vegetable broth
1 can coconut milk (13.5 oz)
1 tbsp lime juice
salt and pepper

Heat oil in dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and cook ~5 minutes. Add squash and cook until just beginning to brown, ~ another 5 minutes. Transfer onion and squash to a bowl.

Add garlic, ginger, and curry powder to remaining oil in pot and cook over medium to high heat ~30 seconds to bring out flavors. Add half of greens and stir until beginning to wilt, about 1 minute. Stir in remaining greens, vegetable broth, all but 1/2 cup coconut milk, and 1/2 tsp salt. Cover pot, reduce heat to medium-low and cook ~10 minutes.

Stir in squash and onion, cover and cook ~10 minutes. Uncover and increase heat to medium-high until sauce thickened, 2 to 5 minutes. Take off heat and stir in remaining coconut milk and lime juice.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Slightly modified but recipe credit should go to The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook from America's Test Kitchens.

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This is a very flavorful side and would go well with any meat or even some brown rice.  I paired it with some baked halibut filets that I had dusted in an Indian seasoning packet intended for cauliflower along with some fresh cherry tomatoes in vinegar and oil.  Colorful and yummy!