Oshitashi

A salad/side dish that goes with everything

The last few days have been sunny and mild, so right before the warmth arrived I trudged into the garden with my snow shovel and cleared off the spinach bed. There were at least three layers to contend with, ranging from the soft snow on top to the pretty crusty compressed snow/ice situation that had encased the spinach down near the soil. Within that frigid matrix, the leaves were green and happy. Spinach is tough as hell and I love leaving a bed out for early treats like this—fresh garden greens on March 1st, with no protection or greenhouse in sight.

I love this Japanese method of preparing tender greens. It’s traditionally made with spinach, but I’ve had great results using the technique with chard, beet greens, komatsuna, turnip greens, and lots of others. You can also use a mixture, depending on what’s available. The method is simple, and the result has a wonderful quality that hovers between salad and cooked greens. It’s also infinitely tweakable, so you can tailor the flavors to match the meal you serve it with. This might be the dish that gets the greens-averse among your family to convert—seriously.