Easy Greens Pizza/Pasta Sauce

Here is an easy way of using up quite a bit of the leafy greens we get in the bag that is also tasty. While I'm not a big fan of traditional pesto, this sauce is very similar to pesto and can be used interchangeably if desired. Excellent with tangy goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, etc. Here is a picture of the sauce used on a polenta-crusted pizza, of sorts.

• 1 bunch greens, washed and tough stems removed (so far I have successfully made this with lots of different greens: mustard, mizuna, arugula, turnip, beet, chard and any mix; I have not tried it with kale, however)


• 2-3 cloves garlic, crushed (or roasted if desired)


• 1 tsp salt


• 1/2 tsp black pepper


• Oregano, basil, thyme, crushed red pepper, etc. to suit your tastes


• 1/4 cup olive oil

Blanch greens in boiling salted water. Drain, reserving liquid (if you are averse to the bitterness of the greens, you can discard all of the water and use fresh water for the sauce). Transfer greens to blender with garlic, olive oil and spices. Add enough cooking liquid or water to aid blending (adding by the 1/4 cup as needed)--it's better here to err on the side of less liquid than more. Puree mixture thoroughly. Transfer to a heated skillet and saute briefly to help the flavors meld. You may need to adjust the amount of liquid in the mixture depending on your use: for pizza sauce, it should be thick enough to spread, but for pasta sauce it can be thinner. If you ended up with a sauce too thin, you can simmer it longer to drive off the water, but the more you cook the greens, the fewer nutrients they retain. Also note that some greens (spinach, chard, probably others) contain oxalic acid, which will cause them to discolor (darken) when cooked in cast iron.