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Yid.Dish: We Love Collard Greens!

by · March 19th, 2009
Community Agriculture, Compost, Cooking, Judaism, Milk, Organic, Recipes, Vegetables, Vegetarian

collard greens

Well, let me rephrase that…we’ve been forced into eating them since for past few months they’ve arrived on our doorstep every Wednesday evening. We try very very hard not to waste the leafy green veggies in our CSA for a few reasons though neither my boyfriend nor I would purchase them voluntarily. Many of the reasons are common sense: we paid for them so throwing them away would be like throwing dollar bills into the trash (or compost?), we feel bad throwing away food because we are fortunate to have abundance while many go hungry, the local organic produce we receive weekly is higher in nutrients and therefore better for us but is also better for the world as a whole. I guess one could say that oftentimes we feel like we’re doing a mitzvah by eating these leafy greens. However, there’s something else that my boyfriend does a good job of reminding us: since we wouldn’t usually buy many of the items in our CSA it provides us with the opportunity to broaden our eating horizons. Sometimes this is what keeps us going when we’d rather be eating something within our taste buds’ comfort zone.

Last week I let two weeks worth of collard greens pile up in the fridge (let me add that another benefit to the CSA veggies is that they often stay fresher for longer since they don’t have to travel as far and aren’t grown on large-scale farms) so I knew it was time to cook them up. I’m pretty far from being southern so before our CSA adventures began a few months ago I’m not sure I’d ever eaten collard greens before, let alone cooked them. I browsed the internet for tips and came up with a few ideas. I have to warn you, this recipe contains some fat – both olive oil and butter. If you’re worried about this check out Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food. Now for the recipe…

1-2 bunches collard greens

1 tbsp salt (for water) plus salt and pepper to season later

1-2 tbsp olive oil (depending on how many bunches of collard greens)

1-2 tbsp unsalted butter – we use Straus Creamery since it’s local to us and organic (depending on how many bunches of collard greens)

2 cloves garlic, chopped

Bring a large pot of water to boil and add salt. While you’re waiting for the water to boil “devein” the collard greens. I do this by just ripping half of the leaf off of the center “vein” in one piece. Cut each leaf into 3/4 inch strips. If you have a good knife you can cut a few leaves at a time. Chop garlic. Once you’ve chopped the garlic and cut all of the strips put the strips into the boiling water for about 5 minutes, put garlic aside. While the strips are boiling heat a large sautee pan with the butter and olive oil. Once they are melted add the garlic. Make sure the pan isn’t so hot that the garlic burns. When the collard greens are ready to be removed they should be a darker green color and should be pretty limp. Dump the greens into a strainer. Add strips to sautee pan and stir so they are coated with olive oil/butter/garlic mixture. Season with salt and generous amounts of fresh ground pepper. Cook about 5 mins and serve immediately. Please be warned that collard greens shrink quite a bit during this process. I’ve made this recipe a few times and continue to be surprised by the small amount I end up with relative to the bunches of greens I started out with.  Also, you could make this recipe pareve by eliminating the butter.

I’m always looking for new variations so please feel free to share!

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16 Responses to “Yid.Dish: We Love Collard Greens!”

  1. m00se Says:
    March 19th, 2009 at 1:45 pm

    I started cooking a lot of kale and greens last year for some reason (I don’t recall why). For a variation, I usually don’t add butter, and my process is very similar to yours. When I’m ready to sautee, I usually start with about 1/2 a white or red onion in the olive oil and when that’s soft add the garlic, then the greens. At the end I finish it off with a little red wine vinegar and/or fresh lemon juice. Sometimes a little lemon zest is nice too at the very end, especially in the summer.

    Thanks for sharing your recipe!

  2. Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster Says:
    March 19th, 2009 at 3:40 pm

    I want to echo what m00se said. I started cooking kale and greens last fall, and they have become a regular staple of our diet (haven’t made collards yet). I use olive oil only, no butter, and enough garlic to kill a vampire, along with a pinch of sea salt. All greens taste great this way! I have found that with some greens you don’t need to devein or blanch them first.

  3. Miri Levitas Says:
    March 19th, 2009 at 3:50 pm

    Thanks for your comments! I’ve been cooking kale as well. I don’t blanch kale but I do devein it. I find the collard to be a bit tougher than than the kale so the blanching helps out. It also cuts the bitterness down. Butter adds a richness that you don’t get with just olive oil but I do use olive oil only when cooking kale.

  4. alix Says:
    March 19th, 2009 at 4:33 pm

    Try baking kale! (Works best with dinosaur or lacinato). Wash and devein, then toss with olive oil and sea salt. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. You’ll get delicious kale chips, great for snacking. Not the best for a meal, but delicious nonetheless. Leafy greens also make wonderful additions to soups because they stay intact better than spinach.

  5. Miri Levitas Says:
    March 19th, 2009 at 4:39 pm

    Alix, I’ve made kale chips as well! I like to sprinkle them with Parmesan cheese before baking. I’ve also added kale (and maybe collard greens?) to a panacea soup of sorts – you’re right, they hold up well and the bitterness goes away (especially when you use homemade chicken stock).

  6. Cara Says:
    March 19th, 2009 at 6:41 pm

    It may sound strange but I LOVE collard green smoothies. You take a couple leaves, a frozen banana, some water and a spoonful of honey and blend it. (I’ve got a high-powered blender… not sure how it would work in a normal blender, you might need to chop the collard first).

    It tastes way better than it sounds and its a great way to not waste a CSA share and to get some good raw greens in your diet.

    ~Cara
    http://www.shopOrganic.com

  7. Tovah @ Gluten-Free Bay Says:
    March 20th, 2009 at 12:13 pm

    I am also a passionate cooker of greens! Kale, collards, chard and more. Garlic and olive oil is enough for most of them. But I have a vegetarian Collard Greens recipe that has a more traditional southern flavor in case anyone is interested:

    http://glutenfreebay.blogspot......imple.html

    And here is a recipe for Spicy Black Eyed Peas & Collard Greens (works great in a slowcooker for shabbos)

    http://glutenfreebay.blogspot......llard.html

  8. aliza Says:
    March 20th, 2009 at 3:40 pm

    It’s actually good to cook greens like collards or kale with some fat because it helps your body absorb the fat-soluble vitamins, like Vitamins A and K, of which they have a lot.

  9. Miri Levitas Says:
    March 20th, 2009 at 5:10 pm

    Tovah, Thanks for the recipes! They look great and I will have to try them – especially if collard greens show up on my doorstep next week.
    Aliza, Thanks for the info. People seems to be so afraid of fat! Clearly moderation is key but a bit of fat is very important for vitamin absorption – not to mention for our brains!

  10. Aaron Says:
    March 21st, 2009 at 12:46 pm

    One more recipe for the pile. A very different take on collard greens helpfully provided by the Tait Farm CSA in central PA. I really like this recipe.

    3TBS butter
    2 small apples diced
    1 garlic clove
    1-2 TBS maple syrup
    1-2 TBS vinegar (Whatever you have handy nothing too sweet though)
    Dash Nutmeg
    6-8 Collards
    sea salt
    black pepper

    Saute butter and apples in a large pan or wok unitl they just begin to brown

    add garlic and continue cooking until in begins to caramelize.

    add syrup, vinegar, nutmeg and seasonings simmer for a minute and add collards

    continue cooking until greens are wilted

  11. deborah gregor Says:
    March 23rd, 2009 at 10:40 am

    Not for vegetarians, but a delicious way to eat more greens: add the deveined, chopped and boiled, but not yet sauteed greens to a pot of already cooked stuffed cabbage, meatballs or turkey balls in tomato sauce. The collards are great in the tomato sauce and in this way there’s no need to add the extra oil (or butter) because the sauce is enriched with some fat from the chopped meat.

  12. Adam Jackson Says:
    March 24th, 2009 at 10:33 am

    I’ll add a couple of suggestions.

    1) Collard/mustard greens or kale or chard all make really good pasta sauces. Wash well and drain the greens. Chop the stems and fry them with chopped onion in olive oil with some salt. After about 15 minutes, when they’re soft and browning slightly, add the shredded leaves. You can throw in a slug of leftover wine if you like at this point, or just a bit of water (very good is water that you’ve been cooking pasta in — ie. you can start making the sauce and then put the pasta on to boil once the greens’ stems are cooked before you add the leaves). Crushed garlic/harissa/hot pepper paste at this point is a good addition, too. Reduce the greens.

    If you want this to be vegetarian, just stop there and season before ladling over the cooked pasta (fusili work well for this recipe). Grate some parmesan over this to finish.

    If you want it non-vegetarian, you can fry some anchovies with the onions and stems, or instead add chopped sausages. Adding tomato paste/passata/crushed tomatoes before you reduce the sauce makes an even richer and more filling result.

    2) These greens are great in soups. Add them, shredded, into a bean or lentil soup and heat the soup for a few minutes to wilt them. You can also put the shreds into a bowl and then pour over a thinner, consomme-type soup that will wilt them as well. Just make sure you just use the leaves and not the stalks if you’re just wilting, since the stalks can be tough without longer cooking.

    PS. Don’t throw the stalks away — cook them as I suggested for longer first, or boil them separately with other vegetables to make stock or in soup.

  13. susan g Says:
    March 24th, 2009 at 12:40 pm

    I see an undercurrent of greens guilt. I did not grow up eating these greens. Even spinach would be out of a can and rejected by all children in the family. Knowing all the nutrition benefits, I try! Buy a bunch, put it in the fridge, forget it. Get rid of it (compost at least) when it is slimy or dehydrated. We left a CSA because we got so many ‘good’ veggies we don’t know (in the gut) how to prepare. So thanks for all the suggestions…and I’ll try again.

  14. Adam Jackson Says:
    March 24th, 2009 at 1:48 pm

    Susan: I don’t think people should feel guilty about not liking greens if their only experience as children was of eating ones that were cooked disappointingly. I also think that parents do their children a disservice by implying that ice-cream and sweet things are the delicious foods only to be given as a reward for eating nasty green things beforehand: there’s no reason why a plate of greens, cooked well, should be any less tasty or delightful than a bowl of ice cream!

    Garlic, onions, olive oil and chili work wonders — and frying or roasting/baking rather than boiling gives a stronger flavour because it encourages browning reactions.

    Feel free to post back with your results: I’m sure our readers would love to hear how your investigations/experiments went!

  15. Marge Herman Says:
    September 12th, 2009 at 8:24 pm

    Miri,

    You might try cooking collards in a soup. Also, I looked all over the internet and haven’t seen the old-time way that I learned to cook collards (while living in North Carolina). Here’s what I learned, but maybe I’m wrong:

    first, remove the stems. arrange the leaves together and coarsely chop. Next, plunge the collards into boiling water. Drain 2-3 minutes after. Next heat some oil (and you could add smoked turkey neck), add chopped garlic and onion. Add collards with enough water to cover. You can let this simmer on low heat for a long time. Add an 8-ounce can of tomato sauce and, if you like, some pinto beans (either canned or home-cooked). Now you have soup!
    I serve this over rice made in a Tiger rice cooker (but watch out for Oster rice cooker, not so good).

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