Southern Style Reds and Greens

A few days ago I posted about the Red and Green colors in my backyard. Now I want to take you to my community and show you the reds and greens we have, Southern style. This past Saturday our farmers' market had a community marketplace where we had the typical Southern November market produce: pecans, sweet potatoes, and greens (turnip, mustard, and collard). Plus we had jams and jellies, salsas, baked goods, and crafts.

Since I'm new to true Southern cooking, I've been a bit hesitant about trying my hand with such standards as sweet potatoes and greens (many times I've cooked chard, arugula, and kale, but those really aren't 'Southern'; and I've done the occasional baked sweet potato). But this weekend I decided there was really nothing stopping me, so why not try out my culinary skills with such fare? I bought some turnip greens and sweet potatoes and tried my version of reds and greens.

I roasted the reddish sweet potatoes in the oven with some rosemary. And then I sauteed the turnip greens with onion, garlic, white beans, and balsamic. A little S&P on both and we had a winner meal. It wasn't bad with a red meritage from Hahn Winery either! Maybe the way I cooked these reds and greens wasn't exactly Southern, but it was a nice first step for me.