I usually make collard greens for New Year’s Day, but I forgot this year. Ahm missin’ mah greens! I did have some at a restaurant last month, but they had caramelised onions in them and I found them too sweet. (Good, but too sweet.)
I simmer a ham hock until the meat is practically falling off of the bones. I remove the bones and skin, shred the meat, and put the meat back into the pot. Then I add the collard greens and simmer until they’re done. I like them that way, and Mrs. L.A. likes them that way.
I fry up some chopped onion (not quite to carmelization point) with some bacon or whatever pork product I have on hand, then I simmer the greens in some homemade chicken stock and add a splash of apple cider vinegar at the end.
How long do you simmer your greens? Mine often seem tougher and not as falling apart as collard greens I’ve had elsewhere, so I don’t think I’m cooking mine enough. I go for like 45 minutes- should it take hours?
I simmer collards a long time with some onion and sometimes bacon. I add vinegar toward the end.
They were recently on sale, so I bought a few bunches. My gf saw them and assumed I was going to prepare them for us. A week later they were gone and she was puzzled. I had purchased them for our tortoise, since there were no dandelion greens and the Romaine was pricey.
Onions browned with black pepper in bacon fat.
Deglaze with apple or balsamic vinegar.
Collard in ribbons added in roughly the configuration of a haystack.
Simmer for hours; you’ll know when they’re done. Add salt last.
Remember ‘Dinner and a Movie’ on TBS years ago? They featured a recipe of greens, black eyed peas, and I forgot what else. I went out and bought collards and a ham hock, put it in the pot with ingredients, let it simmer. It was SO SO salty, it was inedible, one bite, and it went in the trash. (I’ve bought canned greens at Walmart - Selective Seasonings? - and THEY are ultra-salty , wth?). It was the ham hock, crystalized with salt.
So today I just saute some onion, bacon and/or ham bits, a big can of chicken broth, a can or two of rinsed black eyed peas, a bay leaf, some thyme, and lots of collards (and or any other nearby greens in the produce section) stripped from the stem, finely cut, and just let it simmer. Dee-licious.
I love greens, and collards are my least favorite green. Too bitter, too tough, and need way too much cooking. The Ukulele Lady actively hates them, so they never appear on our table.
We make do with spinach, chard, kale, dandelion, turnip, beet, mustard, etc etc.
Collards are wonderful, either by themselves or as part just “greens.” We usually mix ours out of collards, turnip, mustard and maybe a little chard. For a variation try a smoked turkey neck in place of the ham hock.
I haven’t prepared collards myself, but I’ve found that I prefer them cooked with apple cider vinegar.
I cook lots of broccoli rabe at home; it’s just the right texture (much less chewing than collards!) when mixed with some olive oil, salt, and red pepper flakes, then roasted for a few minutes.
