Beet greens

I got an armful of unusual gift yesterday.  A friend was visiting her sister on the farm they have and she brought a big shopping bag full of tender beets with their lush leafy upper parts attached, still bursting with farm freshness.  I use quite a lot of beets in my cooking but mostly the root, for making beet relish.  I did buy a few times leafy bunches over the decades, but small amounts.  It was always consumed with interest, but the family did not take to them enough to request repeats.

So what can I do now with this large amount, I asked myself.  As usual, I took to the Net.  I settled on this soup recipe from The New York Times.

I used red kidney beens, that is all I had, and I ended up using even more greens than the recipe called for.   I found the taste a bit too "green" as I was tasting the soup, so I added a spoonful of beef broth concentrate to it.  Also, instead of Parmesan I added a bit of Grana Padano grated into it.  All in all, I ended up with a nice, thick, stew-like concoction.  The taste experience does take a bit of getting used to, but overall it turned out nice and flavorful. 

Of course, I still had more than half of a shopping bag there, so I separated the leaves, washed and chopped them, after which I steamed them a bit until the whole thing collapsed, and packed them into freezer bags.  I will have them now in the freezer for future consumption, and I can break off smaller amounts of it to add to soups, stews.