The Mystery Ingredient

With the hub bub of work, we sometimes forget to slow down, enjoy life, and try something new.  My job this year is so busy, I struggle to do what I enjoy most... cook.  So trying something out of the box or new is bascially unheard of.  I love feeding my family with good, wholesome food but life doesn't always give me that oppurtunity. 
One way that I do try new recipes is by being a tester for Company X (sorry, won't disclose).  Soporadically I recieve emails asking me to try out a recipe and give feedback. I assume the intent is they then publish these in their rmagazine (only clue you'll get) sometime later in time with the feedback they've recieved.  These are fun because they are unplanned.  But, lately they've all been meat based and not conducive to being "in season" for my local area, something I've tried to be more conscience of. 
So I was ecstatic earlier this week when I recieved an email from our resident chef (at work) that there was an oppurtunity to try  mystery ingredient!  The first in a series he's starting.  Not only that, but they had measured out all of the ingredients for the recipe, all ready for you to pick up.  What an awesome add to an otherwise droning day?! (Is droning a word?).  So run dowstairs I did to pick up a bag. What was even more fun was I knew right away what the mystery ingredient was and I hadn't ever even considered you could cook it!
So, home that night and we had a great start to a meal... mystery ingredient and recipe, grilled tilapia (my new fav), and some Asian style rice. 
I know you are wondering what was the mystery ingredient and was it any good?

Asian Style Pea Greens

Chef Stephen's Mystery Ingredient Challenge #1
1/2 lb mystery ingredient
2 T rice vinegar
1T fish sauce
1/2 T coarse salt
1 T roasted seasame oil
1 small green pepper or Thai Chili, seeded and thinly sliced
1/3 c canola oil
1/2 shallot, thinly sliced
seasame seeds for garnish

1. Rinse, drain and gently pat dry mystery ing. & coarsely chop.  Place in serving bowl.
2. Combine  vinegar, fish sauce, salt, seasame oil, chili in small bowl.  Let flavors meld for 5 minutes and then toss with mystery ing.
3. Heat wok or skillet over high heat.  Add canola oil & swirl then add sliced shallots.  Lower heat anf fry until shallots are golden brown.  Stir so they don't burn.  Spoon some of the oil and all of the shallots over the mystery ing to wilt slightly. 
4. Spril with sesame seeds and serve.

My husband LOVED these!  This serves 4, and he ate two servings worth and wanted me to save the recipe.  I'm not sure where to buy pea greens, but I would guess this recipe would work for any hardy greens. 

Enjoy!