Mixed greens with caramelized onions and prosciutto

Greens are one of the healthiest things you can eat, so I try to incorporate them into my diet on a regular basis. Kale is one of my favorite vegetables, and I also buy a lot of spinach. This time, I decided to go into my produce market without a plan and just buy whatever caught my eye. I immediately saw some dandelion greens that looked interesting, so I picked those up. I also selected a bunch of curly mustard greens.

Now that I had my greens, I had to decide what to actually make with them. I had some onions that needed to be used, so caramelized onions came to mind. Bacon and greens are a natural pairing, but I wanted to do something a little different, so I settled on prosciutto.

I cooked everything in the same pan to save time on dishes later – first, I caramelized the onions with a little butter. It takes a while for onions to caramelize, so be patient. You could even do this step a day in advance. Once the onions were done, I removed them from the pan and wiped the pan out with a paper towel. I added some olive oil and torn prosciutto pieces. I sauteed the prosciutto until it was browned and crispy and removed it from the pan. Next, I put the torn greens into the pan and cooked them until they were wilted. I seasoned with salt and pepper and added the caramelized onions back to the pan. The crispy prosciutto bits went on top.

You can use any type of greens you like for this dish – the sweetness from the caramelized onions tamed the bitter nature of the greens I selected. The crispy prosciutto added nice texture and a pleasant saltiness.

Mixed greens with caramelized onions and prosciutto
Serves about 3

2 large bunches of greens, stemmed and torn into 1-2 inch pieces
3 large yellow onions, thinly sliced
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
3 slices of prosciutto, torn into ½ inch pieces
Salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onions and a sprinkling of salt, cook until caramelized, stirring occasionally. This usually takes at least half and hour.

Remove the onions from the pan, set aside. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel. Heat the olive oil in the pan over high heat. Add the prosciutto, sauté until the prosciutto is browned and crispy, about 4 minutes. Transfer the prosciutto to a paper towel to drain.

Add the greens to the pan in batches – once the current batch has cooked down, add more until all the greens are in the pan. Cook until everything has wilted, about 5 minutes. Stir the caramelized onions into the greens, season to taste with salt and pepper.

For serving, place the greens in a bowl and top with the crispy prosciutto.