Fresh, cleaned mustard green leaves, de-stemmed from 15 bunches.
Meat stripped from smoked Turkey legs
4 yellow onions
Ingredients not pictured: chicken broth, flour, salt, pepper
Rinse mustard green bunches until they’re no longer sandy. Pare or tear the leaves from the stems. The stems of most greens- mustards included- are edible but bitter, and taking this step will make it easier to season this dish properly.
Strip & cut up meat from 3-4 smoked turkey legs*, being careful to remove the sinews.
Chop then sauté your onions in butter over low/medium heat. Deglaze pot with some of the broth, then add the turkey meat.
While that cooks a little, chiffonade the mustard greens. This will let them cook more quickly and make the finished dish easier to eat. After the cutting is done, add them to the pot, along with most of the remaining chicken broth. Cook them until tender, stirring occasionally. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
Optional step: With the last of the chicken broth, create a slurry with flour. It should look like milk or even oatmeal. Adding this slurry at the end of the cooking will cause the liquids in the pot to form a glaze on the leaves that traps the nutrients and flavors that leached out of the greens while cooking. I do this with ALL of my greens now.
If you’ve made greens before and add this step and removing the stems with the amount of seasoning you usually use, they will taste over-seasoned.
* I used to use ham, bacon or even sausage, which are more traditional, but created this variation to accommodate some Jewish & Muslim guests to my 2015 Thanksgiving dinner. The reaction to the change was so overwhelmingly positive that I’ve used smoked turkey ever since.