Eat your greens!  This recipe is so easy and cooks right up on the stovetop.  Just give it a stir now and again while you’re doing other work in the kitchen.  I love a dish that doesn’t need babysitting.

It’s great for greens with tough stems, like chard, kale, or bok choy.

1.  Wash your greens. Trim any roots and separate the leaves.  Fill your sink with cool water and swish around, rubbing stems with your fingers.  Sand isn’t very tasty.

2. Cut ‘em up. Use your hand and pull along the stem, removing the leafy green part.  Chop the stems into slices, like you would celery for potato salad.  Run your knife through the green parts, like a ninja on a mission.  Think bite size pieces, and remember the leafy part will shrink and wilt when cooked.  Oh, and skip the salad spinner.  You want some water to cling to the leaves.

3.  Slice up an onion. A cheap, plain old yellow one will do just fine. Peel and cut the top and root end off, then slice it lengthwise.  Put the cut side down on the cutting board, and slice thinly to you get skinny little half-moons.  Don’t cry.

4.  Get a pot or a skillet.  I use a 10″ skillet with sides.  Put some olive oil or, even better, some bacon grease in the pan, enough to coat the bottom and cook with.  I pour some in, then rub it around with my hand like a toddler playing in a puddle.  But that’s because I’m impatient.  You should swirl it around all nice and gentle like.  Ah, zen cooking.

5.  Turn the stove on medium high, and add your onions.  Salt them a little to leach out the juices.  Stir ‘em around a bit and show ‘em who’s boss.  Toss in the chopped stems so the onions know they’re not the only aromatic on the block.

6. Cook and stir occasionally until the onions have a nice little tan.  Not too dark.  Dark tans are bad for the skin and the onions in this dish.  If you need more fat, a little butter never hurt anyone.  Just saying.  Or, add some broth (your choice) or water to keep things loose.

7. Get some garlic, and get it in the oil.  Do what you have to do – press it, dig it out of a jar, use your ninja knife.  I don’t care how you get there, just get the garlic in the pan.  Now turn the heat down.  No one likes burned garlic.

8.  Stir. When you smell the garlic, but it hasn’t gotten its tan on yet, toss in the green leaves.  Stir again to bring the onions, stems, and garlic up from the bottom, and cover.  It looks like they won’t fit, but they will!

9. When the leaves have wilted, give it some salt and pepper love and serve!

Check out Pennywise Platter at Nourishing Gourmet for more recipes!