Saturday, October 13, 2012

Mustard Greens Recipe Search

I was fighting a battle with the garden squash bugs.  Each morning or evening I would cruise the pumpkin patch and squash the squash bugs along with any of their eggs.  My back had other ideas; so bending down to fight this war just wasn't happening.  With that, the squash bugs continued to breed like, well, bugs.  They took over and sucked the vines dry.
Squash bugs winning the battle AND the war.
Only a few pumpkins were salvaged while the rest met their doom in the green waste. The pumpkin patch needs to make way for more winter vegetables like the mustard that has just sprouted.
Squash bugs have been living the high life.
Four varieties of mustard have been sown in the old tomato bed. It's supposed to repel nematodes; so that's why I picked up some seed packs down at Floyd's.  The cashier made a "nummy" sound when she saw the picture of mustard greens on the packets.  I've never had mustard greens.  In fact, I haven't had much Southern food at all.  Fried chicken is about it. 
 
Chinese Gai Choi, Florida Broadleaf, Southern Giant Curled, and Tendergreen Mustard varieties look like they will be filling the bed for the winter.  At least, they can be chopped under for green manure. At most, I will use the baby greens in salads and try mustard greens - IF they grow to maturity and I find a decent recipe.  Mushy greens don't sound appealing to me; but I need to understand why the Floyd's cashier made the "nummy" sound.  I'm sure bacon must be involved.

I've been searching for recipes that look good.  Having personal recommendations of recipes is so much better though. If anyone has a mustard greens recipe to recommend, please share.

1 comment:

Donna said...

Never had mustard greens but I'm sure bacon must be involved too.
Sorry about the squash bugs.