Smothered Collard Greens

Jeez,
You always hear people complaining about having to eat their greens.
My wife did that, I called and said I got Collard Greens and she said those don't taste like much.
Anyway, I showed her.




This recipe is courtesy of Real Cajun, rustic home cooking from Donald Links Louisiana.
This guy own Cochon in New Orleans, well I never heard of it.

The recipe does work.

let's get started.
Get 2 Bunches of Collards, they should be fresh looking and not wilted, you can pick a leaf and
stick it in your mouth, it should have crunch....
2 bacon strips, chop them crosswise

1 small onion chopped, I used Shallot as they are tastier in my opinion.
1 garlic clove, large
1 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
hot sauce optional
half a chili chopped very fine, if you do a good job it will melt into the sauce
1/6 cup of vinegar,  he said cider, I had wine.
1 cup of chicken broth  or vegetarian broth or water .


So let's start.
Strip the stems from the Collards, you can throw the stems.
Tear the leaves to smaller parts.
Wash them in water to remove the sand, repeat again with clean water.

Heat up a dutch oven.
I just used my cast iron frying pan.

I used medium heat.

Add the bacon and let it get underway, around 5 minutes.
Then at the stage before it browns you can add the onion, garlic and chili
Keep frying for another 4

Add the salt, pepper, sugar mix another 2 minutes.

Add the vinegar and mix, lower the heat to low.

We will let the dish simmer for 5 minutes, every minute give it a mix.

At this stage add all the greens, stir them around and add the cup of stock/water.

Now you can put the lid and leave it for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, mix it and check the water, you should always have a little water.
Make sure it doesn't go dry but don't drown them.

Once the rest of your main is ready.
Simply fire it up to the highest heat, remove the lid and mix till they become a little less soggy.
Some people like them dry, I like a little liquid.


There you are, delicious greens.
I mean they were way tastier than the fried chicken breast.
I think I should have called them the MAIN.

Oh, he said pour hot sauce if you want them hotter,

I was fine with my half chili I added.