Cooking with our Frozen Greens

Last October, towards the end of the growing season, Sergio and I blanched and froze a LOT of greens for use all winter long. This weekend we finally reaped the rewards of our endeavor and used some of that preserved harvest for dinner; we made a delicious Squash, Kale, and White Bean Stew with local butternut squash and, of course, local (frozen!) kale.

You can also see a larger version of this video here. (Select "watch in high quality.")


A couple of notes about using frozen greens:
• My book recommends thawing greens by running them under water or putting them in the fridge but not letting them thaw at room temperature. However I've done it that way and it's fine if you don't leave them out too long; make sure they're still pretty frozen when you start to cook with them.
• Only thaw what you are going to use as you don't want to refreeze something that's thawed out (this will reduce the quality of the frozen goods).

Bright orange Bonner Springs butternut squash with garlic and spices

(click to see larger image) The recipe we used (and modified) is from the October 2006 issue of Country Home magazine; it made its way to me via a friend who jotted a note to someone else at the top before photocopying it and sending it on. Those are my bean musings in pencil in the middle; I highly recommend Anasazi beans with this dish.