Collard Greens

I'm not sure why I decided to plant collard greens other than they looked pretty and were inexpensive? As soon as it came time to harvest them, I froze. In fact, I cut a whole bunch at one point and then took so long to do anything with it that I had to throw it all in the compost.

So when it was time to harvest the collard greens next, I did what all great chefs do ... I asked how to cook them on facebook.

[Sadly, I didn't take a picture before they were harvested ... or I would include it right here.]

Okay. Cleaning the collard greens is scary enough. Just do one google search and you'll see that everyone thinks collards are extremely gritty and have to be washed and washed. I didn't want to eat grit and I didn't want to spend an hour cleaning some simple greens. So, I soaked them for a couple minutes and rinsed them and decided that had to be good enough. It was.



I knew the preparation was going to take some time, and that was my least favorite thing about this. The Internet suggest that I cut out the stems, divide into 1-inch slices, roll the slices and chop length-wise.



You'll notice the collard greens get smaller and smaller in every picture!

To cook them, I went with the suggestion to braise. I started with a little olive oil and added some chicken broth, garlic, and salt (which I later regretted - the salt in the broth would have been enough for me). I also added some sugar to counter the bitterness of the collards and then cooked on low for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.



Eventually it started looking a little dry and I worried about the collards charring, so I added some more broth. In hindsight, I wish I had added water because I thought the flavor was a little strong and boy, did I mention the salt?

The result?



Better than I expected. I am pretty sure this is the first time in my life that I've eaten collard greens and it won't be the last. I have a lot of things I'll do next time, and another one is that I'll cook it a little longer than 45 minutes. Although the texture could have been worse, it was definitely a little rubbery.

Thanks to my facebook friends who knew what to do with this stuff!