I’ve always been a big fan of greens, and I practically live on the things then they’re in season.* But, I recently discovered a new favorite leafy ingredient: purples! Purple mustard greens, that is. These gorgeous babies range in color from bright green to bluish-red to right purple at times, and they taste like regular mustard greens except much more so. Actually, it’s kinda like eating Tellicherry pepper in leaf form. Bloody delicious!

Photo by Flickr user JenWaller

These are so lovely, cooking them is a cinch: just rinse and dice them, and place them (still a bit wet) in a medium-hot pan with a bit of oil (I prefer 1 part sesame and 3 parts olive). Sprinkle them with salt, turmeric, and just a tiny tiny bit of nutmeg. Toss to mix, cover, and let steam-saute (there must be a better term for this) till they’re just soft (about 5 minutes).

As a bonus, if you deglaze with a light stock, you get a very pretty bright purple liquid as a bonus (hint: color your rice).

 *The lady at the farmers market might just roll her eyes and start bagging as soon as she sees me walking up.

-MAW

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