Cookoff 2.0 #17 - Collards!

[ajkdvm]

Cookoff 2.0 #1 - Heat Infusion - Parrothead
Cookoff 2.0 #2 - Tomatoes - Unknown Foodie
Cookoff 2.0 #3 - Butternut Squash - Jackiecat
Cookoff 2.0 #4 - Fennel - Nolafoodie
Cookoff 2.0 #5 - Grains of Paradise - PattyE
Cookoff 2.0 #6 - Eggplant - Geimerst
Cookoff 2.0 #7 - Soup - Pixie
Cookoff 2.0 #8 - Ribs - Dan
Cookoff 2.0 #9 - Citrus fruit - Moonablaze
Cookoff 2.0 #10 - Clams - Thierry
Cookoff 2.0 #11 - Ground Beef - Parrothead
Cookoff 2.0 #12 - Olives - Grovite
Cookoff 2.0 #13 - Slaw - Nolafoodie
Cookoff 2.0 #14 - Peppercorns - Grovite
Cookoff 2.0 #15 - Yogurt - Eye4got
Cookoff 2.0 #16 - Summer Squash - Nolafoodie
Cookoff 2.0 #17 - Collards - ajkdvm

To celebrate the first harvest from my little rooftop container garden (two pounds and counting from a single sub-irrigated tub), the theme of this cookoff is collards! Braised, stewed, in a slaw, as a wrap... bring it on!

[nolafoodie]

Middle Eastern Stuffed Collards

STEP 1: Meat and rice filling

* 1 lb. ground meat (beef or lamb)
* 2 large onions, finely diced (or pulsed in food processor)
* Salt and pepper to taste
* 2 T. olive oil
* Optional: cumin, allspice, cinnamon, and cardamom, to taste
* Optional: finely minced chile, or a dash of cayenne pepper

* 2 cups rice (uncooked) (*Alternatively, you can use very coarse bulghur or cracked freekeh, or half-bulghur/freekeh and half rice)
* 2 medium tomatoes, diced small (or 1 can diced tomatoes, drained)
* Optional: just about any seasonings or herb/spice blends you desire: Moroccan, Greek, Italian, dried mint, ground anise/fennel, etc., to taste.

Soak rice/bulghur/freekeh in approximately 4 cups very hot, or even boiling, water, for 30 minutes. Drain and add to remaining stuffing ingredients.

STEP 2: Greens and cooking liquid

* 1 large bunch collard greens
* 1 head garlic, cloves peeled and halved or crushed
* 1 quart broth or stock
* Juice of 2-3 lemons (really, this is a matter of taste)
* salt and pepper to taste
* Optional: fine-textured seasonings/spices, e.g., Creole seasoning, seasoned salt, onion powder, etc.

Blanch collard greens in salted water until pliable. Remove stalks and tough center ribs and reserve. Usually, this results in halved leaves. If your greens are especially large, you may want to cut them down further. I like working with 4"-6" lengths and widths.

Place a leaf portion, glossy side down, on a clean work surface. Place 1-2 tablespoons filling (depending on the size of the leaf) along the lower edge, leaving a little space on the sides. Roll the leaf, either cigar-style (don't worry -- your filling won't come out) or by folding over the bottom and sides, then continuing to roll (kind of egg-roll style).

After you've rolled all your leaves, prepare your pot. Line the bottom of an appropriately-sized pot (for the amount in this recipe, a 4-qt. pot should suffice) with reserved stalks and rib trimmings. Arrange stuffed greens in tight layers, sprinkling a few pieces of garlic between each layer.

Prepare boiling liquid: Combine above ingredients in saucepan and bring to a boil.

Place a small heat-safe plate (the largest size that will fit in your pot), inverted, over the rolls. (This will keep them from unraveling while cooking.) Carefully pour cooking liquid into the pot, using just enough to cover the rolls. If you need more liquid, add a little salted water until the rolls are covered.

Cover pot, bring to a boil, then reduce to a very low boil and cook for 40-45 minutes, or until filling is cooked through (rice inside will actually be a little overcooked -- it should be sticky, not fluffy, in order to retain the shape of the rolls) and leaves are tender (you should be able to cut into them easily with a spoon). Little or no liquid should remain in the pot. You can remove the plate about halfway through cooking. After cooking, allow to cool in pot for at least 15 minutes (otherwise, you risk unraveling everything).

Invert pot onto serving platter. Remove stalks from what should now be the top of the mound.

Serve rolls as they are (it's a complete meal in and of itself) or with a tzatziki sauce.

[flowerchick]

Charleston Place Collards

2.5 lbs chopped collards, washed and ribs removed
½ gallon chicken stock
1.5 cups finely chopped onions
½ lb diced smokehouse bacon
½ lb smoked ham or ham bone with ham attached
½ cup finely chopped garlic
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1½ tsp Old Bay seasoning
2 tsp sugar
Salt & Pepper to taste

Render bacon in heavy bottom stockpot until semi crisp
Add onions and garlic, cook till soft

Add chicken stock, greens and remaining ingredients

Cook on med heat for 2 hours, or until greens are soft and pliable

*Beer or ale may be added to this recipe for extra flavor* = )

[Captain Stern]

I've got Collards growing in the garden this year so I need to find several recipes. They are growing like freeking weeds. I'll be hip deep in collards and cabbage this fall. I've gotta print out that last one, anything with bacon goes over great in our house.

[eye4got]

This isn't so much a recipe as a method, but I'll post it anyway.

Easy Greens

Cut 4-8 rashers of bacon into about 6 pieces each.
Cook them in a stock pot over medium heat.
As the fat begins to render out, add one chopped onion (yellow or white) and 3-6 minced cloves of garlic.
Continue cooking until the onion starts to turn translucent.
Add a whole mess of washed greens to the pot.
Sprinkle on a few splashes of balsamic or red wine vinegar, a heavy pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper.
Give the pot a stir, reduce the heat to medium-low and clamp on the lid.
Stir every 5 minutes or so, until the greens are cooked down.
Serve with hot sauce to taste and warm cornbread with butter.

[ajkdvm]

Don't all speak up at once, now . Will let this one run until Thursday. Get your last-minute submissions in!

[sparkchaser]

I vote with flowerchick

[carla]

Just for ideas:

Garlicky Greens Recipe
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/ga ... ecipe.html

If you are using spinach ignore the stem instructions below. With spinach I simply trim any long stems. Also, feel free to make this vegan and/or dairy-free by leaving out the Parmesan cheese. Toasted almonds or pine nuts are a great substitution (or addition).

1 large bunch of kale, chard
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
fine grain sea salt
5 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (opt)
crushed red pepper flakes

To de-stem each leaf of chard/kale, grab the main stalk in one hand and strip the leaf from the stem all the way up with the other. I then tear the big leaves into bite-sized pieces, but you can use a knife for this task if you prefer. Wash the greens in a big bowl (or sink) full of clean water, rinsing and swishing to rinse away any stubborn grit and dirt. Drain, rinse again, and set aside.

Hold off cooking the greens until just before eating. Then, in a large skillet heat the olive oil. Add a couple big pinches of salt and the greens. They should hiss and spit a bit when they hit the pan. Stir continuously until their color gets bright green, and they just barely start to collapse - two, three, maybe four minutes, depending on how hot your pan is and how much structure your greens have. Then, just thirty seconds before you anticipate pulling the skillet off of the heat, stir in the garlic. Saute a bit, remove the pan from the heat, stir in the Parmesan, and add a big pinch of crushed red pepper flakes. Taste, add a bit of salt if needed, and serve immediately if not sooner.

Serves 2- 3.

[sparkchaser]

Sounds alot like grandmas' she used bacon grease. I know not good for you but sure does taste good.

[carla]

Trying to go lighter:

Sautéed collard greens with white beans and lemon zest
http://www.cookthink.com/blog/?p=347

Here’s a simple collard green and white bean recipe we put together earlier this week after a long day of meetings. The greens were brightened by the lemon zest. They were delicious over basmati rice, but would work alongside any meat dish.

serves 4

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds collard greens, stemmed and cut into 1/2-inch ribbons
1 medium shallot, thinly sliced
1 15-ounce can white beans (1 1/2 cups), rinsed and drained
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
salt and pepper
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken stock
hot sauce

Instructions:
1. To prep the collards, fold each leaf in half and slice off and discard the stem. Stack all the leaves together, and thinly slice them crosswise.

2. Prep the shallot and white beans. Before zesting the lemon, scrub with a brush and a little soap and water. Rinse it well and dry it.

3. Melt the butter in a large sautée pan over medium-high heat. When the foam subsides, stir in the shallots and reduce the heat to medium. Season the shallots with a light sprinkling of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the shallots are translucent, 2-4 minutes.

4. Stir in the collard greens to the same pan. Cook, stirring often, until they turn bright green, 2-4 minutes. Season the collards with a light sprinkling of salt and pepper (both the chicken stock and beans are salty), and stir.

5. Pour in the chicken stock. Give the greens a good stir and cover. Cook the collards until they start to become tender, about 5 minutes. Uncover and cook, stirring often, until the collards are dark green and tender, another 15 minutes. Stir in the white beans and zest, and cook 5 minutes more.

6. Serve over rice with hot sauce on the side.

[sparkchaser]

And don't forget the castiron skillet of cornbread to go with the greens.

[carla]

Jay, that collards & scallop recipe should be posted so it can be stored in the cook off threads.

[carla]

And don't forget the castiron skillet of cornbread to go with the greens.

Yup. I've only done very simple versions of steamed/braised greens. I use seasoning and olive oil. I covet akjdvm' fresh collard leaves.
Yes, I have made collards with ham hocks. The best was a bag o mixed greens, collard, turnip & mustard greens. I prefer the alternate greens. Oh, chard is gooood too.

[sparkchaser]

Carla you need to try some young beet tops they go great with mustard and collrd greens

[carla]

Carla you need to try some young beet tops they go great with mustard and collrd greens

LOL! Beet tops are my absolute favorite green. But they are SO delicate. They get a turn in a sautee pan with butter and that's it, they're done. I don't mix them with anything except butter & maybe salt; I like them too much.

Fresh young chard is great; almost rises to beet green greatness. But can't compare.

[Captain Stern]

Did up a batch of Collard Greens this weekend and they turned out amazing. My 7 year old ate them and liked them a lot.

I customized the recipe for our tastes and pan fried some smoked sausage, the cheep stuff from Safeway which my some loves. Added a bit of olive oil and tossed in a huge heap of greens cut into two inch square pieces along with a couple of green onions chopped up and a couple cloves of chopped garlic. I let that cook on medium high heat until they wilted down good and then set it to low heat to simmer away and cook off the juice a bit. Then I seasoned with salt and pepper and served them up. The bowl was scraped clean.

One note, they are worse than spinach for cooking down. I picked a whole plastic shopping bag full and after de-ribbing, cleaning and cooking I had a medium serving bowl full of them.

[ajkdvm]

Nola, the collard rolls were delicious (I used a rice/bulghur mix and added some chopped preserved lemon to the cooking liquid) but I gotta say that flowerchick's offering is the closest to my heart - not to mention very similar to the way I cook collards. So, take it away, Fleur!

[flowerchick]

Sorry!

I posted the recipe and forgot about it!

Thanks to Pixie, for paging me.


Guess I better go think of an ingredient to throw out there.

[Esie]

hello,..''
flowerchick..can you sent me some info all about
the Cookoff 2.0 #17-Collards??
Thanks in advance,....


best regards....
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