Behold, this was the week of the greens!

Granny Smith Apples, cilantro, chives, arugala (or as the Brits call it, rocket), and my official new favorite green: creasy greens.

Creasy greens are garden-friendly, growing in all types of soil, almost year-round, and replanting themselves each year. They look similar to winter cress (a different but closely related species of green), but where the winter cress has four or five smaller leaves under the large top leaf, creasy greens have 5-10 leaves along the stem.

Creasy greens. (Pic | crabappleherbs.com)

Things I love about creasies besides the taste: In the South, it’s also known as scurvy grass. The first blog I found when I did a Google search for creasy greens was titled, “Creasy greens… say WHAT??” There’s an album that celebrates the natural world by Doug Elliott called “Crawdads, Doodlebugs, and Creasy Greens.”

But beyond the trivia, these greens are delicious. They taste similar to spinach but lack the filmy texture I often notice with spinach. They have a bit of a bite that sneaks up on you, a peppery aftertaste that I didn’t expect.

You can prepare creasy greens much the same as you would spinach:  in quiches, sautéed with garlic and oil, or in a salad. I chose to make a salad because it’s a hectic week and my CSAcation had to be reigned in a bit.

Creasy Salad

One handful of creasy greens (still on stems)

A few pieces of Arugala

One or two leaves of romaine lettuce

Handful cherry tomatoes

Sliced cucumber

Poppy Seed Dressing (I used the kind in a jar)

Wash the greens and veggies well (making sure to get rid of the gritty, sandy dirt on the creasy greens). Toss ingredients together, and then top with dressing. Toss to distribute dressing. Serve with croutons, nuts, or sunflower seeds.

I used poppy seed dressing because it’s sweet, and I find the sweetness is a nice counter to the kick in both the creasy greens and the arugala.

*

I began my column this week with my success story: the salad. Unfortunately, the inevitable has happened: I seriously messed up a recipe. I brought a defenseless Thelma Sanders squash to within an inch of its life, butchered it, and though it tasted okay; the mess of squash and sausage that I ended with was a far cry from the Squash Stuffed with Sausage and Apples that I intended.

There are probably a couple reasons the recipe went wrong: the recipe called for a Butternut squash, while I used a Thelma Sanders; because the squash I used was smaller, I decreased the cooking time, which I think was a mistake; the skin did not form a crispy shell like it was supposed to, for whatever reason.

My, my, my, Dana...

At first I thought, oh dear, I can’t share that for the column. Why would I? It failed. It didn’t look pretty; it was unimpressive, and I served it mixed up in a bowl instead of in a hollowed out squash. But then I tasted it.

And this is when I remembered every single reason I love cooking. The final product looked nothing like it was supposed to, but it tasted delicious. The weather has gotten colder this week, fall is officially underway, and I wanted sausage, squash, apples, brown sugar! I wanted comfort food—warm and spicy and sweet. I have an obsession with trying to be perfect all the time, and that means creating perfect dishes, but in truth, the failed stuffed squash was actually everything I wanted. For me, cooking is so often about comfort: comforting others, finding comfort for myself, recalling some memory of a meal or a dish that has meant something to me. My mom’s pancake recipe. My granny’s goulash. Forgotten cookies at Christmas.

So I’ve adapted it the squash recipe to be what I made last night, for all its messy, comforting glory. It’s not the prettiest thing I’ve ever prepared, but it’s pretty tasty.

Autumn Apples, Squash, and Sausage

8 oz. bulk mild Italian sausage

2 Thelma Sanders squashes

1 tablespoon canola oil

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into small cubes

3 tablespoons butter, divided

2 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar

¼ teaspoon ground sage

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Lightly oil a 9×13” baking dish (large enough to hold the squash).

Cut the squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds and strings. Arrange the squash cut side up in the baking dish and brush lightly with the canola oil. Cover with a lid or aluminum foil and bake until almost tender, 30 to 40 minutes. Keep the oven on.

Meanwhile, crumble the sausage into the skillet and cook over medium heat until no longer pink. Without draining off the fat, add the apples. Cook, stirring, for several minutes, just until crisp-tender. Remove from the heat.

When the squash is cooked, let it cool slightly, and then scrape out the flesh. Lightly mix the squash pulp into the sausage mixture, breaking up the squash as little as possible, cooking over medium heat. Mix in 2 tablespoons butter, 1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar, the sage, salt, and pepper. Once butter and sugar have melted into a thin syrup consistency, remove from heat.

Pour sausage mixture into a baking dish (a gratin dish, probably). Dot with 1 tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces, and 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar.

Bake, uncovered, until piping hot and brown and crusty on top, 20-25 minutes. Let it cool for several minutes before serving.

Eat well, CSAcationers, and take care.