Quick(er) Southern-Style Collard Greens
Nov. 9th, 2011 12:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
delladea in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
omnomnomGreens are some of my favorite veggies, and this is our family unit's favorite way of cooking collard greens. These go perfectly with a pot of black-eyed peas and a pan of cornbread, or put them with chili, fish, chicken... really anything except for Chinese or Thai takeout leftovers.
This recipe can be cut in half no problem. I figure if I'm going to take the trouble to clean and chop collard greens, I'm going to make a big pot to have plenty of leftovers.
Required Equpment:
Ingredients:
Method:
First, the greens have to be washed. Clean out one side of your kitchen sink with soap and water (be sure ALL the soap has been rinsed away). After rinsing, insert stopper and break apart your bunches of greens, laying the leaves in the bottom of the sink. Fill with enough cold water to cover the greens plus another inch. Swish around the greens to help release any dirt or sand trapped in the leaves. After swishing, leave greens in the water to allow any dirt to settle to the bottom.
Meanwhile, heat your saucepan on medium heat, add the olive oil and bacon grease (if using) to the pan. Chop the onion into relatively small pieces and add to the pan after oil is heated, stirring occasionally. While onions are cooking, finely chop or crush your garlic cloves and set aside. We want the onions to cook until they're translucent and slightly brown to give more flavor to the greens (extra important if omitting the bacon juice). Adding the garlic at this point will cause it to burn and taste icky.
While onions continue to brown, begin slicing the stems out of the individual leaves of the collard greens. Extract a leaf from its bath, place the leaf face down on your cutting board and run your knife against each side of the thick, ribby stem. Discard the stem, and stack the trimmed leaves on the side of your board. Once you have several leaves stacked, fold them over and slice horizontally and place the sliced greens in your bowl (size is up to you, I like 1/2-inch thick slices). Continue until all leaves are sliced and in the bowl.
At this point your onions should be translucent, brownish, and lovely. Add the garlic to the pan and stir until garlic becomes fragrant, about a minute. Add the greens to the pan (don't be afraid to squish them down) and the stock to your onion/garlic mixture and put the lid on. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook about twenty minutes or until greens are tender. After ten minutes of cooking time, stir the greens to make sure all of them are coated with the stock.
After greens have finished cooking, remove from heat and add your lemon juice (or vinegar) to the pan. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Cooked collard greens keep a few days in the fridge, and IMO are better the next day. You can also slice the collard greens ahead of time if you plan on cooking them later in the day.
This recipe can be cut in half no problem. I figure if I'm going to take the trouble to clean and chop collard greens, I'm going to make a big pot to have plenty of leftovers.
Required Equpment:
- Cutting board and sharp knife
- Large saucepan with lid (if making a half-batch, a medium pan will do fine)
- Large spoon
- Large bowl
Ingredients:
- 1 medium onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- about 3-4 Tbsp olive oil
- about 1/2 tsp of bacon grease (optional)
- 2 bunches fresh collard greens
- 1 cup stock (I prefer veggie here, but chicken works too)
- juice of one lemon, or 2 tsp of vinegar*
- salt and pepper to taste
Method:
First, the greens have to be washed. Clean out one side of your kitchen sink with soap and water (be sure ALL the soap has been rinsed away). After rinsing, insert stopper and break apart your bunches of greens, laying the leaves in the bottom of the sink. Fill with enough cold water to cover the greens plus another inch. Swish around the greens to help release any dirt or sand trapped in the leaves. After swishing, leave greens in the water to allow any dirt to settle to the bottom.
Meanwhile, heat your saucepan on medium heat, add the olive oil and bacon grease (if using) to the pan. Chop the onion into relatively small pieces and add to the pan after oil is heated, stirring occasionally. While onions are cooking, finely chop or crush your garlic cloves and set aside. We want the onions to cook until they're translucent and slightly brown to give more flavor to the greens (extra important if omitting the bacon juice). Adding the garlic at this point will cause it to burn and taste icky.
While onions continue to brown, begin slicing the stems out of the individual leaves of the collard greens. Extract a leaf from its bath, place the leaf face down on your cutting board and run your knife against each side of the thick, ribby stem. Discard the stem, and stack the trimmed leaves on the side of your board. Once you have several leaves stacked, fold them over and slice horizontally and place the sliced greens in your bowl (size is up to you, I like 1/2-inch thick slices). Continue until all leaves are sliced and in the bowl.
At this point your onions should be translucent, brownish, and lovely. Add the garlic to the pan and stir until garlic becomes fragrant, about a minute. Add the greens to the pan (don't be afraid to squish them down) and the stock to your onion/garlic mixture and put the lid on. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook about twenty minutes or until greens are tender. After ten minutes of cooking time, stir the greens to make sure all of them are coated with the stock.
After greens have finished cooking, remove from heat and add your lemon juice (or vinegar) to the pan. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Cooked collard greens keep a few days in the fridge, and IMO are better the next day. You can also slice the collard greens ahead of time if you plan on cooking them later in the day.
