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Making restaurant-worthy creamed greens at home doesn’t have to be an arduous task. To back this up, we spoke with Lambert Givens, executive chef at Hunter’s Kitchen & Bar in Boston, and he offered some of his tips for preparing such dishes. Chef Givens graciously gave us a foolproof play-by-play of how to whip up award-winning creamed greens at home with the help of heavy cream, butter, and plenty of aromatics. The assembly, types of aromatics, and their respective preparations are what put a professional twist on a homemade recipe.
“Start by sautéing some shallots in butter until they’re golden and fragrant!” he advised. “Next, whip up a smooth confit garlic purée for that rich, mellow flavor. Then, let’s reduce some heavy cream until it’s thick and luscious. Combine your sautéed shallots, garlic purée, and creamy goodness with your favorite greens (think spinach, kale, or Swiss chard) for a dish that’s not just creamy, but a flavor party on your plate! Serve it up and watch everyone come back for seconds!”
Shallots are a milder, sweeter cousin to the onion that will make an elegant foundation for greens. Garlic confit is essentially slow-cooked, olive oil-soaked garlic cloves that become soft, sweet, and mashable. It supplies an upgraded aromatic richness to pair with the heavy cream. You can store leftover garlic confit in the fridge for the rest of the week for recipes like mashed potatoes and garlic bread. Reducing the heavy cream is the last pro tip Chef Givens recommends to intensify the dairy richness while making your greens ultra-thick and creamy.
Are there cream swaps for restaurant-worthy creamed greens
As the name implies, creamed greens depend on heavy cream to complement the bitterness of the greens and supply a decadent, smooth consistency. But should you always stick with heavy cream when making creamed greens? According to Chef Givens, “[H]eavy cream provides the richest, creamiest texture for creamed greens, other dairy and dairy-free alternatives can work well, depending on your preferences and dietary needs, but may result in a slightly different final product”
If you want a dairy alternative to heavy cream, half a cup of Greek yogurt and half a cup of milk will add a tangy bite to complement the sweetness of the shallots and garlic confit. You can also substitute heavy cream with butter, flour, and broth for rich but lighter creamed greens. The best dairy-free substitute for heavy cream is canned, full-fat coconut milk like this organic item from Native Forest. While coconut milk will certainly alter the flavor profile of your creamed greens, the nuttiness coconut milk brings to the mix could be a change for the better. You could add green chilies, garam masala, and dried fenugreek to the shallots and confit, swap butter for ghee, and add coconut milk and sauteed spinach for an Indian twist on creamed greens; all that’s missing is cubes of paneer to transform creamed greens into palak paneer.
