mashed roots & stems

Another spontaneous moment:  I am not normally a potato kinda gal, but i was getting bored of rice & pasta.  I recall my little sister used to make really good mashed potatoes, so I decided to give it a go.  However, to lessen the earthy flavour of the potato, I decided to add a carrot that I had handy in my refrigerator.  To accompany the mashed potato, I decided to pan-fry up one of the pieces of chicken thighs in my freezer with some handy spices in my pantry (lemon herb).  The only thing that was missing was leafy greens, so a couple large collard green leaves were also pulled out of the fridge.  It is sooo good to have fresh ingredients handy in the house!!!  As the other half doesn't generally like the thick stems of green veggies, I decided to dissect them out and add them to the mash potato+carrot: ingenious! ;-)   Here is how I did it:

Servings: 2

Ingredients 
Mashed roots + stems
1 medium sized yellow potato, roughly cut into several pieces (I prefer to leave the skin on)
1 medium size orange carrot, roughly chopped into large pieces
stems of 2 large collard green leaves, also roughly chopped into large pieces
1 tbp butter
1 pinch salt
Collard greens
leaves of two large collard greens, roughly chopped into ~1"x1" squares
1 pinch salt
drizzle of olive oil
a tbp spoon of butter (optional to add flavour) 
Lemon chicken
1 moderate sized piece of chicken thigh
olive oil
generic lemon & herb (or lemon & garlic) salt


Procedure
Mashed roots + stems
1)  Stem potato, carrot, and stems in a steamer until tender
2)  Transfer tender roots & stems to a bowl (or plate) with a flat bottom;  add the tbp butter;  mash with potato masher
3)  Keep warm in oven (low heat; ~250F or ~120C)
Lemon chicken
1)  oil both sides of chicken thigh
2)  sprinkle on the lemon+herb salt on both sides; set aside for ~5mins (while you prepare the other two components)

3)  heat pan to medium heat with olive (or other veggie) oil
4)  sear chicken;  make sure one side is completely seared before turning (there should be minimal sticking to the pan when it is ready to be turned!)
5)  check doneness; once done, transfer to a plate and set aside to rest
Collard greens
1)  Use same pan that the chick just vacated; add oil (and butter)
2)  Add collard greens;  stir occasionally to prevent sticking and to ensure even cooking;  cook until lustrous green
3)  If prefer softer greens, add 1-2tbp water and cover with lid for a couple minutes
4)  season with salt (and optionally pepper)


Plating
1)  Spoon and distribute mashed roots+stems onto the middle of two plates
2)  Spoon and distribute the collard greens atop the mashed potato
3)  Cut the chicken tight in half and add on top of the pile of mashed potato and greens


As a treat and for dessert, I also made raisin oat cookies =P

Enjoy.