Monday, September 5, 2011

Perfectly Cooked Collard Greens

By Kathy Smith


This collard greens dish totally highlights how much you can do with collard greens and how they could be dished up along with so many other things including ham, drumsticks, bacon, pork chops, and more often than not just other vegetables. I really enjoy collard greens with fresh homegrown tomatoes or chow chow (a green, southern relish). You may notice that collard greens have leaves fairly thicker than lettuce this means these are fantastic for cooking and serving warm.

Traditionally, collard greens are usually eaten on New Year's Day, with black-eyed peas and cornbread. This conventional dinner is claimed to ensure success in the coming year, mainly because some people think that collard leaves look like rolled up money. Cornbread can be used to absorb the tasty broth made by this collard greens dish. The broth used to be referred to as "pot liquor."

Collard Greens Recipe:


1 pound collard greens, washed, lightly dried in towels after which chopped to the size of your liking. I like to leave my collard leaves in large pieces because the leaves will wilt anyway once cooked. However, some people, like my brother, like their leaves cut up just like lettuce leaves.

A single 1/2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil or Canola oil (don't use peanut oil, due to its somewhat strong scent)

1 tablespoon butter 1/2 of a large white or yellow onion finely chopped

One teaspoon of dried red pepper flakes or 1/2 teaspoon of hot sauce like Tabasco

a pair of cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

3 cups of vegetable (vegetarian) or chicken base

two ripe tomatoes, cut

Salt/pepper to taste


Directions for cooking:

Warm-up the olive oil and the butter inside a big pan on top of medium-high heat until the two are dissolved together, swirl the butter and oil once in a while to ensure that your butter doesn't burn. Saute the white and yellow onions then mix in the red pepper flakes and then the diced garlic. If you are using hot sauce like Tobasco sauce instead of dried pepper flakes, do not add the Tobasco sauce in the pan at this step. Instead, wait until the chicken stock is added in to the fry pan and then it's always best to add the hot Tobasco.

Stir the onions and garlic often and keep a close eye on them as they cook so as to ensure that the garlic cloves does not burn and also to be sure that the oil doesn't get too hot and start to smoke. Ideally, the garlic cloves should begin to turn golden brown after only a few minutes of cooking and also the onions will turn clear. Combine in the collard greens and saute for an additional minute. Mix in the chicken stock and Tobasco sauce (optional), cover and simmer. Cook till the collard greens are tender and wilted, about 40 minutes. Lastly, add the tomatoes and after which you can season with salt and fresh ground black pepper. Serve warm.




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