Killer Collards Recipes

KICKIN' COLLARD GREENS

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add bacon, and cook until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, crumble and return to the pan. Add onion, and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, and cook until just fragrant. Add collard greens, and fry until they start to wilt.
• Pour in chicken broth, and season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes, or until greens are tender.

TANGY QUICK COLLARDS

Steps:

• Remove the large center stems from the collard greens. Stack the leaves on top of each other and roll them as tightly as possible. Use a sharp chef's knife to slice the leaves as thinly as possible.
• Use a vegetable peeler to remove three 1-by-2-inch strips of peel from the lime. Finely chop the peel.
• Heat the olive oil in a large, wide pot over medium heat. Add the ginger, garlic, mustard, jalapeno and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until very fragrant and the garlic is pale golden, about 3 minutes. Add the vinegar and simmer until almost completely reduced. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the collard greens. Cook, tossing with tongs, until just slightly wilted, about 3 minutes. Serve warm.

COLLARDS

Steps:

• Remove the tougher, woody stalks from the collard leaves. Smaller stems are okay. Wash the leaves and cut them into half-inch-wide strips. You can roll them into cigars to speed this up.
• Put the bacon in a stock pot on high head to render its grease, 3 or so minutes. Add the onion and cook until translucent but not brown, about 5 minutes more. Add the collards and cover with cool water. Add the red pepper, salt, and the ham bone. Bring to a boil and cook for at least 2 hours. There are many conflicting opinions on this. To my mind, collards were not made for quick cooking. Undercook collards and you are asking to be strangled; they can't be properly chewed. On the other hand, overcook them and they will eventually turn to mush. Two hours seems about right, although this might give nutritionists pause. Taste for salt.
• Even people who love collards complain about the way they make the house smell while cooking. People have different cures for this: Place four pecans in the pot. Cover the top of the collards with slices of white bread. None of this works.