Ash Wednesday

Ash on your forehead and green in your pot

When Lent begins in Louisiana, as it does today, along with St. Valenine’s, there are special things to do.

You may pull into a “drive-thru Ash” kiosk where the local priest will anoint your forehead. If you come to my house, I’ll do the same.

Now is your time to cleanse and reflect, eh? To meditate on sacrifice.

But what to eat?

It is time to make the most beautiful vegetable potion of all, “Gumbo Z’Herbes.”

The essence is this: You clean and boil at least 7 bunches of different fresh greens in a stockpot with many peeled gloves of garlic. You add your veggies to a patiently cultivated roux, and the results are something other-worldly.

Gumbo Z’Herbes is all about greens, the bounty of them:

Kales, Mustard greens, romaine lettuce, the greens of carrot tops, (yes!) beet greens, turnip greens, collards, dandelion greens, cabbage, watercress, spinach, parsley, arugula, scallions. You name a garden green, and the answer is YES.

—Vary them, the texture and sharp vs. soft flavors. I’ve used…