Braised greens with crunchy breadcrumbs

This simple, no-waste recipe from Matt Stone is a great way to use all the stalks of the greens in your refrigerator crisper drawer by braising them with garlic, lemon and white wine. Use up leftover bread to make a crunchy crumb topping to finish.

Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  40 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 3 bunches mixed greens (kale, silverbeet, turnip tops, beet tops, radish tops)
• 2 brown onions, roughly chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 ml) dry white wine
• pinch ground cinnamon
• pinch ground all spice
• 1 lemon, zest and juice

For the sourdough topping 

• 1 loaf old sourdough, cut into 2 cm chunks
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed

Instructions

1. Separate the leaves and stems from your greens and roughly chop the leaves and finely slice the stalks.

2. Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat with a generous drizzle of olive oil. Add the onion and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until softened and season with salt and pepper. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute, or until fragrant.

3. Allow the pan to cool for 2 minutes before adding the finely sliced vegetable stalks. Cook on medium heat for 8 minutes. Add the white wine and simmer for 5 minutes and begin adding the vegetable leaves in batches until they have all wilted down. Stew the greens for 20 minutes (adding some water if required). Stir through the ground cinnamon, allspice, lemon zest and juice.

4. Meanwhile, add the sourdough chunks to a food processor and pulse until it forms a crumb. Heat the olive oil in a second large frying pan with the crushed garlic and fry for 1 minute, then add the crumb. Cook, stirring, until golden, then transfer to a paper-towel lined tray.

5. Just before serving, season the braised greens with salt and pepper to taste, then transfer to a serving plate. Sprinkle with the crunchy breadcrumbs and serve.

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.