Spring cleaning . . . with bitter greens

I never thought much about my liver until a year or so ago; I don’t drink much and it seemed unlikely I’d do any damage to mine. I was wrong, apparently, and now I find that many of the foods I crave are ones that have a cleansing impact on what I now know is my body’s largest internal organ.

Your liver is huge, and stretches across almost your entire abdomen and up under your ribs and lungs. It’s hugely important, too, and cleans all the toxins out of your body so all your other organs can function properly.

For women it’s especially important; it cleans excess estrogen out of your system, and helps reduce some of the the most unpleasant menstrual symptoms.

In traditional Chinese medicine, spring is considered an excellent time to cleanse your liver. You can do this by drinking less, eating fewer fried foods (or none at all) and eating lots of healthy-liver foods such as artichokes, beets and bitter greens.

Passover is this week, and Jews around the world eat bitter herbs at this time, not to clean their livers but to remind them of the bitterness of slavery. But as long as you’re eating bitter greens anyway ...?

Some of the best liver cleansers include dandelion greens (if you pick them from your lawn, make sure they haven’t been doused with weed killer or fertilizer) and broccoli rabe (which Compass editor Marsden Epworth, who designs the Health page each week, prefers to call by its lovelier other name: rapini).

Radishes are also good cleansers (and nicely bitter), as are a few sweet foods that are rich in iron: prunes, figs and raisins. Iron is also good for your liver.

This week’s recipes are for rapini, which is easy to grow (something to keep in mind if you’re shopping now for seeds for your summer garden) and easy to find at nearly all grocery stores.

The easiest way to eat it is to trim off the ends of the stems, and then cut the thicky leafy bunch of greens and florets into three sections. And no, you definitely do not need to separate the florets from the leaves and stems.

The basic recipe: Saute the rapini quickly with some sliced garlic and olive oil. When it just shows the first signs of becoming tender (a minute or two), pour a quarter cup of chicken broth into the pan and cover it. Leave the heat on low or turn it off. In just a couple minutes the greens will be wilted. Shake out the liquid a bit, add sea salt and fresh pepper, drizzle a little high-quality olive oil on top and serve.  

If  you’re not on a diet, here are two other ideas.

1) Squeeze the juice of half a lemon onto the rapini after it’s finished wilting. Let it sit for a moment, so the juice is absorbd. Then squeeze the greens out lightly with a pair of cooking tongs, put the rapini back in the skillet, heat it up just a little and add cream, less than a quarter cup. Salt, pepper and serve.

2) My new favorite method for cooking all greens comes from the China Inn restaurant in Lakeville. Sauté your greens and garlic with a bland  oil such as canola oil. Then, season with a teaspoon or so of sugar and a few drops of sesame oil.When your greens are just softened, add a half cup of chicken broth (it’s OK if it’s a little soupy), let it get hot. Add salt and pepper to taste, and serve with rice or an inconspicuous pasta such as orzo.