Recipe and Photo by Mackenzie Smith

Briny olives, toasted garlic, lemon zest and chili flakes balance bitter beet greens for a great side dish, or my favorite-- a filling for a quesadilla or grilled cheese sandwich.

• 2 tablespoons of fat-- olive oil, butter or ghee all work really well here
• 2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• Greens from two bunches of beets, soaked and rinsed
• ¼ cup of olives, quartered lengthwise (a few more for garnish is nice here!)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Zest from half a lemon
• A big squeeze of lemon juice
• Chili flakes (I prefer Aleppo)

Photo by Mackenzie Smith

Remove stems from leaves and cut into 2-inch pieces, then cut the leaves into ½-inch ribbons.

Heat fat on medium-high heat in a skillet and add garlic, a pinch of chili flakes and olives. Cook until you can smell the garlic start to toast, about 45 seconds, then add chopped stems to the pan. Add half a teaspoon of salt and cover your skillet with a lid. Reduce heat to medium-low for about 4 minutes. Check stems -- you want them to be almost fork tender. If they aren’t, cook another minute, check again, and repeat until they are. (But don’t cook them too much or they will get mushy!)

Once your stems are almost fork tender, stir in remaining beet leaves and cook until leaves are tender, another 2 minutes or so.

Salt to taste, and finish with lemon zest, a sprinkle of chili flakes and a few more chopped olives.