It wasn’t until my early twenties that I really started getting into cooking. Until that time I had limited exposure to food outside of my mother’s or grandmother’s normal fare. My first roommate was an older friend of mine named Fred. I watched him cook and learned much of the technical basics I still rely on today. Fred was really good at making simple things taste amazing. This weeks recipe has a history in American culture going back hundreds of years and was one of the first dishes I made a point to get right. I’m talking collard greens here folks, one of the essential dishes in the Soul Food category (my favorite). Cooked wrong they can be terrible but prepared correctly, and with love (hence the term soul food), they make some of the best eating I can come up with.
All leafy greens like collard, spinach, mustard, kale, turnip, chard, and beet tops have excellent nutrition. They are dense in vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. Most of them, however, are bitter and need to be finessed into a tasty dish. The technique shown here is one of the quickest ways of turning hardy greens into a mouth-watering spectacle of culinary deep nutrition.
If you have the opportunity to grow your own greens at home do it. Greens cooked the same day they are picked are awesome. Otherwise choose organic fresh looking (bright colored, and firm) greens at your local farmers market or grocery store. As the title of this post implies I could eat greens practically every day. I hope you like them too. Let’s cook
Braised Collard Greens
- 2 bunches collard greens
- 1/2 medium size onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 pieces of bacon or lardons
- 1 tbsp butter or ghee
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 tsp salt and pepper
- Pot with Lid
- ** For a no meat version use smoked paprika instead of bacon or lardons. You will need to add more salt
Method
- Remove the stalk from each leaf by curling your index finger around the base of the stalk and running it up the middle while you hold onto the end with your other hand
- Roll and chop into 1-2″ pieces
- Thoroughly wash the greens in the sink, a pot, or bowl to remove any dirt or sand
- Cut up bacon or lardons into small pieces and begin to fry until most of the fat is rendered
- Add butter and onions and cook until they start to turn clear
- Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes stirring frequently. Do not let the garlic get too brown
- Add the salt and the greens, then cook, stirring frequently until they have wilted down about 5 minutes
- Add the water then stir and taste for seasoning. Add more salt if needed, then cover an cook for another 20 minutes stirring every 5 minutes or so
