June wrote:

> OK, my palate is perhaps a bit unsophisticated, but I can't eat bitter
> greens. Just. Can't. (For scale - I ate a single leaf of raw arugula
> last night. Had to wash it down with water.)
>
> Anyway, I think I'll be getting a lot of them in my new-to-me-this-
> year CSA subscription. So... what can I do to make them tasty? Any way
> to tone down the bitterness?

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/re...s/views/236407 gives a recipe for
"tourte de blette," which is an offbeat way of toning down the bitterness of
Swiss chard.

I like to cook kale in a crockpot to soften the texture and the bitterness;
the cooked dish can be served as a side dish alongside smoked sausages or
meats. (You can even put it in a hot dog bun with bratwurst.)

Collards can either be slow-cooked:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/reci..._30571,00.html

medium-cooked:
http://jugalbandi.info/tag/collard-greens

or stir-fried:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/reci...6_2893,00.html


They go well with bland food like black-eyed peas and rice, or with very
spicy food; the bland food tempers their bitterness while the spicy food
plays against it.

Arugula, endive, and chicory (including radicchio) can be cooked to mute the
bitterness, or they can be served with fatty things that temper the
bitterness. (The classic example of that would be the bistro salad of
frisée, bacon, and a poached egg, but I've found that using them in place of
the lettuce in a BLT works fine too.) Sometimes they're paired with white
beans, although that's not one of my favorite combinations. I believe one of
the Moosewood publications (either _Moosewood Cookbook_ or _Enchanted
Broccoli Forest_) has a recipe for pesto made from arugula, but I can't
verify that at the moment.

I hope this helps!

Bob