What are these leaves?

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What are these leaves and how can I make my children eat them?

I have a fantastic cookbook for this stuff but it's on its way to find me from our old home. Please help before they go off and I throw them out and never buy the local organic veg box again.

Kids will eat kale crisps but not much else I've found with leaves so they'll probably end up being puréed or chopped finely into risotto or soup unless I can find something so delicious we adults eat it all!

[Mycarsmellsoflavender]

Is it rainbow/ Swiss chard? You mainly eat the stalks, not the leaves, IIRC.

[TeddyIsaHe]

On the left it’s cavolo nero and the right with the coloured stalks is Swiss chard.

Both are amazing sautéed in butter as a side dish! But you can generally use them in a similar way to spinach.

[Maccapacca88]

Chard, cavalo nero and mature spinach. Finely slice, sauté in garlic, and bacon. Cook pasta. Add a ladle of pasta cooking water and parmesan. Mix with pasta. Job's a good 'en

[Daisydoesnt]

Teddy is right its cavolo nero on the left and chard on the right. Both delicious and not to be left to fester in the bottom of the box! For the chard trim off any tough stalks, give everything a very thorough wash, and then roughly chop (stalks and leaves). For the cavolo nero run your fingers down the stalks and the leaf part will come away in your hand (the stalks can be quite tough so ditch them). Wash well and chop/ tear into even sized pieces. I would treat them both the same - sauté in a large pan with the water still clinging to the leaves and a good knob of butter (or splash of olive oi). They will wilt down in a few minutes. Like spinach they do collapse down quite a bit so you'll need a good handful for two adults. Also delicious stirred into a pasta sauce; I make a yummy one with sautéed mushrooms, thyme, chard, parmesan and dollop of creme fraiche. Tuck in!

[MikeUniformMike]

What Macca said. The swiss chard is lovely with a poached egg - cook like spinach, but the stalks take longer to cook than the leaf.
Cavolo nero - treat like kale.
It all looks in need of being eaten quite soon.

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Thanks ladies .. he rainbow chard was the only one I was reasonably sure about. I've been picking snails out of the others; they got delivers on thu but I've had no time until today to cook them. Veg go off very quickly here; most things won't last more than a few days. It's been a race to eat the box contents while they're still fresh!

[MikeUniformMike]

What was the recipe book? I love rainbow chard and it is very easy to grow, as are spinach and cavilo nero. Chard and cavolo will grow in the winter too.

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Is this really mature spinach? (Better photo). Looking a bit sad too

[MikeUniformMike]

Hard to tell. It could be choi sum or spring greens, but I'd still treat it ass spinach .

[Nikkynakkynoo]

Kale pesto is my go to recipe for is it up make and other leaves www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2872687/kale-pesto
It freezes really well so can make hatch.

[Nikkynakkynoo]

*a batch

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Recipe book by Abel and Cole. Used to be free if you got a Montreal with of boxes. I love it - gave me ideas for veggies I didn't grow up with and new ideas for things I'd never thought of trying (but were delicious).

Cavaliers Nero is in the oven to make crisps. Hoping they'll be as good as kale. My mouth is actually watering

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Woooahhh. Just ate some of the not quite identified leaves, thinking maybe a variety of Choi sum. Proper mustardy wasabi type heat. Can't feed that to the kids! And it will definitely change a risotto!

[Sadik]

Your second pic as you say is def not spinach! If it's got a mustardy heat, shred and stir-fry or add to eg dal / curry, the heat will go once they're cooked. Could be nice in risotto but might be a bit too brassica-y / sulfur-y.

To store them - if you stuff into a plastic bag & tie the top loosely then put in the bottom of the fridge they should keep pretty well.

[Maccapacca88]

Ok, that picture is better! Could they be turnip greens maybe?

[Nikkynakkynoo]

Oh if they are very bitter then could be cimi di rape?

[Nikkynakkynoo]

Wait I just googled and it's actually spelt cime di rapa ...knew it was something like that Agree better in a curry/stir fry than risotto!

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Right ... so we have two winners; it appears to be cine di Rapa ... also known as turnip greens :-)

We managed to eat out the Brussels, the potatoes, the celeriac, some carrots, the celery, the cavalier Nero (I'm leaving that autocorrect), some chard, the leek, and some cauliflower. .. The family have already started farting en masse

[MikeUniformMike]

Thanks. Will look out for Abel & Cole recipes

[Nikkynakkynoo]

Woohoo! I've been getting a veg box for about 10 years now, so niche vegetables could be my mastermind specialist subject

[kateandme]

we had great success with them in sweet potato and chicken tagine and curry.
and had it in cheesy pasta bake.it helped lessen the strong flavour for the littlies too whilst adding great taste to the pasta bake.

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I've got a Moroccan lamb recipe waiting for me to cook it this week ... might try and sneak some in tomorrow...

[kateandme]

we also sautee it with bacon onions garlic and sitr into spaghetti
also blend it to make a sort of pesto

[Weedsnseeds1]

The last picture is mustard greens. Use it to make saag if you get any more.