A Family Meal, Starring an Unfamiliar Leaf

The Ohio Christophers visited us for Labor Day weekend. Any time the family gets together an epic meal occurs, so before everyone went to work building nursery furniture, throwing a baby shower and watching college football, I took them to the farmer's market for inspiration.

The market was as busy as I've ever seen it, but that didn't stop us from picking up fresh peppers, onions, garlie, eggs and sweet potato greens. That evening, we recreated Tony's Three Pepper Parade along with fresh fetuccine, sauteed sweet potato greens (recipe after the jump), tomato and bean salad and grilled peaches with ice cream and a rasberry-balsamic sauce for dessert.

Sweet potato greens have a surprisingly light yet sharp flavor. They need little (if any) seasoning, so I quickly sauteed them with garlic, olive oil and lemon. The dish took less than 10 minutes to prepare.

Sauteed Sweet Potato Greens

3/4 pound sweet potato leaves, roughly chopped

3 tbs olive oil

1 large clove garlic, diced

1/2 lemon

salt, to taste

1. Heat the olive oil in a pan, then add the garlic. 

2. When the garlic is fragrant but not brown (about 1 minute), add the greens. 

(NOTE: The water left on the leaves after washing them will help them steam. If the pan looks or sounds dry, add an additional tablespoon of water)

3. Just as the greens begin to wilt, squeeze the lemon over the top of the pan, add salt and serve.