Early in the summer, I almost gave up on my crop of collard greens. The plants were attacked by pests called flea beetles and most of the leaves were nothing but webby, skeletal fans with not much green left on them.
The real problem was extremely dry weather. Collards like it wet. When the weather did turn wet — too wet for tomatoes — the collard greens grew like crazy.
A few days ago, I harvested just the bottom leaves from the six or seven plants I have out in the garden. They were big, beautiful leaves, and my only concern was that they might be too tough because the weather had been so hot. They certainly were pretty, though.
Here's a perfect leaf, shown with a standard table knife to give the photo some scale. You can see, above, how many of them there were. The plants will produce many more this fall.
When collard leaves are smaller and seem more tender, I don't bother cutting out the central rib of each leaf. With these, I decided just to cook the green leafy parts. Kitchen scissors make fairly quick work of removing the tough ribs.
Then I just coarsely chopped up the leaves to prepare them for cooking. Collard greens are a sort of cabbage that doesn't form a head, and the leaves are dark green or blue-green in color.
I put them batch by batch into a pot with some water, salt, pepper and white wine. As they cooked down I added more. The cut-up leaves wouldn't all fit in the 12 liter pot at one time. Some people might put a little sugar in the pot, but I think white wine gives the greens enough sweetness.
Then I seasoned them. I had some fat and broth left over from braising a couple of pork shoulder roasts in the slow-cooker a few days earlier. I also added some more salt and black pepper, as well as some dried red pepper flakes.
Collard greens are really different in texture from spinach or chard. They are "meaty" — the leaves, even after an hour or two of cooking, still have some chewiness. A French woman I served some to a few years ago said: « C'est du croquant. J'aime ça. » Croquant is "crunch."
Looks appetizing!
ReplyDeleteI think the collard greens are excellent, but then I grew them and have eaten them all my life.
DeleteThey look delicious. I wonder if they could be done in a crock pot?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure they could be done in a slow-cooker, Kristi. In fact, I see several recipes for slow-cooked collards here.
DeleteThose leaves are huge! When I saw the first photo, I thought they were sitting in an bowl on the kitchen table ... an then I realized they were actually in a recipient on the kitchen floor. They are not exactly my cup of tea, but I hope you enjoyed them because I know you are very fond of your collards!
ReplyDeleteHave you ever tried them, Martine? People in Portugal, Brazil, and the U.S. South love them.
DeleteI do like collards, but I always wonder if all their vitamins are being lost with the long
ReplyDeletecooking required.
I'll say what Julia Child used to say: We are not worried about vitamins; we are worried about flavor. And think of all the fiber and calcium in those greens!
DeleteI love your collard greens! You have a magic touch.
ReplyDeleteI think collard greens pot liquor runs in my veins.
DeleteI've never cooked collard greens in wine, but yours look so good that I'm going to try that. I think they'd be good with sweet potatoes. and pork chops.
ReplyDeleteMe too.
DeleteMmmmmm
ReplyDeletenice!!!!
ReplyDeleteI would like to try it
ReplyDeleteDidn't know collard greens at all until I moved to California. Now I like them a lot. Great winter crop here.
ReplyDeleteAs you know, I was glad to find collard greens in California too. They are a good winter crop here in Saint-Aignan too, and they are a good winter crop in coastal North Carolina. Summer collards are different from winter crops because they haven't been touched by frost. The leaves aren't as tender.
DeleteKen, those collards look mighty good and I love them! You cook them rough cut too. I like the way you cut them. I usually roll the leaves and do a rough chiffonade cut. I don't like them chopped fine after they are cooked like some southern cooks do, nor do I like them cooked to death. I usually cook them with chicken stock with a little olive oil and a pinch of sugar! I have never tried wine, must try! If they are fresh out of the garden they are delicious. I have bought them at the grocery store and they were not fit to eat, but I think it was the variety. My two must haves are pepper vinegar and cornbread and that is all. I want the collards all by themselves, but it is OK to have a little ham meat and a potato cooked along with them in the pot! I sure do miss my Mama's and my Grandma's collards, especially cooked and seasoned with a little ham out of the smokehouse! Well, I guess I will have some blackeye peas I've cooked in the crockpot for supper. Somehow they are just not going to cut it today after seeing that dish of collards!
ReplyDeleteIf I had known our weather was going to clear up and be as pretty as it is today, I would have gone down to Morehead to the Seafood Festival.
I'm glad your weather turned off pretty, and I'm sure the people who organize and participate in the N.C. Seafood Festival were happy about it.
DeleteI like the way you describe cooking collards. I have hot pepper vinegar with them too (some Wilber's or Scott's barbecue sauce is good). We get really good smoked pork and chicken here, and they go well with the collards. I like boiled potatoes with them too. Try putting some white or rosé wine in them instead of sugar and see what you think. And now you've made me want to cook some black-eyed peas (or field peas -- I have a bag of them that I bought at Food Lion in Morehead and brought back to France).