Lovely spring greens

Posted by Tania Kindersley.

Spring greens are in their pomp just now, and here is a delicious way to make them into a kitchen supper.

Take four heads of greens, four rashers of streaky bacon, I think smoked is nicest here, four cloves of garlic, and one dried chilli.

Remove the woody stalks from the spring greens and then roll up the leaves and slice into very thin ribbons. This takes a while, but it's worth the effort - it's a texture thing. Cook in boiling salted water for five minutes. Sometimes I use a tablespoon of Marigold Bouillon instead of salt, for a more interesting flavour.

While the greens are cooking, slice up the bacon into strips and cook over a medium heat in its own fat. Finely chop the garlic. Once the bacon is crisp, turn the heat right down to almost nothing and add the garlic. It must not brown or it will go bitter and you want it sweet. Throw in the sliced chilli. If you do not want too much fire, then do not add all of the seeds. Stir about for a couple of minutes. If the bacon has not produced much fat, add a little olive oil to help it all along.

Drain the greens, mix in the garlic and bacon, add a generous gloop of extra virgin olive oil, and check for seasoning. The bacon will be salty, so you may not need to add any extra salt. If you want some, I recommend Maldon sea salt. And there, a lovely healthy supper for two. I like eating it on my lap whilst watching sexy Jon Stewart do The Daily Show on More 4. You may have quite other ideas.