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© Copyright 1995-2023, Clay Irving <clay@panix.com>, Manhattan Beach, CA USA
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Recipe from: Edoc
Servings: 6
Dark, leafy greens are SO good for you, I hope you'll learn to love them! Today this dish is designed to serve as either a main course with rice, or as a side with anything you please. It's a traditional Southern "go-with" for beans and rice. You may make it with or without meat, but the flavors are so assertive these greens don't need it.
6 pounds collard greens
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup finely chopped onions
1 cup finely chopped celery
1 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1 or 2 small fresh hot peppers, seeded, deribbed and finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
3 pounds meaty ham hocks or shanks, optional, but delicious!
3 bay leaves
1 ½ cups cold water
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, or 2 teaspoons dried
1 ½ tablespoons fresh oregano, or 1 ½ teaspoons dried
2 teaspoons Creole Seasoning (see below)
hot pepper sauce to taste
Pull the coarse stems all the way out of the collards, and wash the leaves very well in several changes of cold water.
Heat the oil in a large, heavy saucepan or Dutch oven. Add mirepoix and meat (if you are using meat) and sauté the vegetables until the onion is translucent. Tear the greens into bite-sized pieces and add to the pan. Stir to coat greens with the vegetable mixture and oil. Add seasonings and water. Cover the pan and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat for forty minutes (to one hour - depending upon how tender your greens are) Allow the greens to sit in their liquor while you remove the hocks and cut them into bite-sized pieces. (If there is a lot of liquor in the pan, you may wish to reduce it by one-half.) Be sure to discard all the bone, skin and gristle. Stir the meat back into the pot. Serve hot.
Wine Tip:
If you're making these greens the center of your plate, choose a Riesling from Alsace or Austria to go with it. I find most German and California Rieslings too sweet for this dish.
Creole Seasoning Mix
Servings: about 3 tablespoons
This is a wonderful seasoning to have close at hand in a jar with a shaker top to use for seasoning anything and everything. I like these proportions because the mixture adds a nice "zip" without taking the roof off your mouth, but you are welcome to make it as incendiary as you like!
1 tablespoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 ½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons white pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder