I know I've said it before, but caldo gallego has got to be one of my very favorite soups.  I made a batch last night that went basically as I described before, but added some Spanish smoked paprika at the end.  Totally put it over the top.  Loved it.  It's such an easy soup, and full of nutritional goodness, especially from the kale, which is one of my favorite greens. 

It's nice that we're finally getting a bit of soup weather here in Oregon.  It's been such a hot summer, it's a pleasant change to get some cooler, wetter days.  Makes it so much easier to plan for dinner when it's OK to produce some heat in the kitchen. 

Yes, indeed, the rumors are true.  There is a restaurant serving Ethiopian food in Hillsboro.  Vikki and I had lunch there on Monday.  It's still mostly a deli/diner, so most of the menu is burger-fries and cold sandwiches, but they have 7 Ethiopian dishes on the menu, each of which comes with a salad and your choice of injera or rice.  We had a spicy beef dish, and the collard greens, both with injera.  Very tasty!  The injera was very fresh, and the flavor of both dishes was excellent.  It's a bit expensive, and portions are small, so keep that in mind.  It's not the cheapest lunch around, but a welcome addition to the local lunchtime scene for sure.

Lalibela Ethiopian Cafe, 5289 NE Elam Young Pkwy, #F-800, 97124

I had some rutabegas I needed to use up (doesn't everyone?) and decided to try the traditional Scottish version, "bashed neeps".  Basically, you cube your rutagegas (turnip? swede?) and boil until tender, then mash with some salt, pepper, a touch of mace, and plenty of butter.

These made a great side dish with some of New Seasons' pork bratwurst cooked in beer (Fat Tire) with some onions.  Much more interesting than mashed potatoes, and less starchy.  The rutabegas have less of a "turnipy" taste (IMHO) than the white turnips, so might have a wider appeal. 

Monday night I had to use up some turnips ( ) so I made some "armored turnips" which is a medieval recipe.  Cube and boil the turnips until tender, but still firm, then drain and add some butter, salt, pepper, cinnamon, and ground ginger, then stir in some cheese.  I used parmesan.  Very tasty, and a quick and interesting side dish.

I have a great and abiding love of almost all things leafy and green, but possibly my favorite prepration is Southern style 'greens' with some kind of pork product.  I had some collard greens I needed to get rid of, so I got some bacon and set to work...

I chopped up the bacon, and fried it with a couple of chopped onions until the onions were soft and the bacon had started to harden up a bit, then added the greens.  I discovered lately that WinCo has pre-washed and cut up greens of several varieties, which makes them sooooo much easier to use.  I dumped in half a bag of collards, and a full bag of mustard greens, and stired them up with the bacon and onions until they started to wilt a bit.

On top of the greens I tossed in some chopped garlic, a splash of sweet vermouth, a few dashes of Angostura bitters, a couple tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, and some salt and pepper, plus just a bit of sugar (I used Rapidura, 'cause I like it). 

After that, I just let it all cook down for about 45 mintues to an hour, and served it up with some leftover jambalaya.  Made for a great easy meal.  The sugar and the complexity of the vermouth and bitters really played well with the mustard greens, which can be a bit strong, but ended up in this case not notable different from the collard greens, which was just about perfect.