I'm Changing Your Mind About Collards Greens

Some weeks we eat really boring food. Some weeks I’m absolutely on fire and we dine like – well, not kings, but like people who eat a lot of good food. And some weeks, a pretty pedestrian-sounding side dish steals the show and ends up being added to the New Favorites list. If you don’t like collard greens, this may change your mind - I know you need more greens in your diet!- and let's face it: collards aren't most people's favorites. I think this is probably because the raw leaves are roughly the size and shape of an elephant's ear (an actual elephant's actual ear, not the tasty fried dough from the state fair) and don't seem like they would cook down to anything as delicious as, say, baby spinach or chard. You're wrong. 

Nom nom, amiright?

I’ve talked plenty about the Lee Brothers and their wonderful updated take on Southern food. Having recently visited Alabama, I found pretty much every stereotype I expected to be true; lots of fried, lots of okra, mac and cheese is apparently a vegetable, token-effort iceberg lettuce salads, etc. It was all delicious but I walked away from most meals feeling kind of …heavy. My scale also feels that I came away from this experience kind of heavy. This did not, however, stop me from going on a Southern food bender last week and cooking my way through a bunch of new recipes from the Lee Brothers and Martha Foose Hall, including a sweet tea pie.

I actually like collards, and have a couple of different versions depending on how long I have available for cooking. David tends to make them as he has more patience for the rinsing and de-veining and chopping – the pre-cut ones all have the hard rib intact, which makes eating collards a lot less enjoyable. I actually did all the work to make these, including slicing the leaves (which, admittedly, are pretty easy to work with) ribbon-thin so they piled up beautifully in the bowl. I thought it was well worth the effort, as the tasty end result really wanted to be pretty as well. If you’ve ever wished you liked greens, this may be the dish for you.

From Simple Fresh Southern by the Lee Brothers.

Collards with Poblanos and Chorizo Will Change Your Mind About Collards 

2 tsp canola oil
8 oz fresh chorizo
3 poblano chiles, seeded and sliced into strips
2 tsp mined garlic (use the real stuff here, not the jarred)
1 ½ lb collard greens, ribs removed and sliced thinly
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

Heat the oil in a pan large enough to hold the greens, then add the chorizo. Cook until the sausage has rendered most of its fat, about 2 minutes, breaking it up with a spoon as it cooks so you end up with crumbly little bits. Add the poblanos and cook until they start to soften, about 4 minutes more.

Add the garlic, half the collards, the salt, and 2 Tbsp water to the pan. Cook, turning the collards with tongs and adding more as space permits. Continue to cook until all the collards have softened and become dark green. About 6 minutes. Add the vinegar and cook, turning the collards occasionally, until the vinegar has evaporated and pan is dry, about 3 minutes more. Season with salt to taste and serve immediately to exclamations of surprise at what a couple of extra ingredients can do to greens.