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Category: Collards

  • Lentil Soup using any Root Vegetable and any Green

    Any root vegetable is good here; rutabaga, potatoes, carrots or turnips (scarlet or Hakurei) or parsnips would all be good.

    This is super simple to make and it makes a lot, so you will have leftovers and the leftovers are great. You can throw in any extra grains or vegetables you have to freshen up the leftovers and eat this all week, oh and this just happens to be vegan.

    I love adding a little bit of vinegar to lentil dishes, I add a splash about 1/2 way through cooking when I add the greens, if I am using greens and usually a little more right before eating it. If you don’t think you’ll like the vinegar just start with just a little and add more to taste or leave it out. It will be delicious either way.

    To make this you’ll need;

    • 1 1/4 cups green lentils
    • 12 oz canned (or cartoned?) or fresh tomatoes —  (1 1/2 cups)
    • 2 large onions, chopped
    • 2 cloves garlic, minced
    • 1 bay leaf
    • 2 tablespoons to a 1/4 cup vinegar to taste – I used white balsamic, I like the slight sweetness but any vinegar is good – red wine vinegar is good.
    • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • ½ teaspoon fresh or dried thyme leaves
    • 2 cups peeled and diced root vegetable(s)
    • 2 cups diced carrots
    • 2 cups chopped greens – collards, spinach, chard – green are totally optional
    • 6 cups water
    • crushed red pepper flakes to taste
    • freshly cracked black pepper to taste

    Peel and dice the rutabagas and dice the rest of the vegetables you are using. I don’t peel carrots. Put everything in the amounts above in a pan except the vinegar and greens.

    Simmer that for a total of about an hour. About 1/2 way through cooking add about 2 tablespoons of vinegar and your greens and finish cooking until all the vegetables are cooked through. It’s fine to cook it longer. This photo is when I added the greens it needs to cook at least 1/2 hour longer.

    I like eating this with an added splash of vinegar and olive oil and bread or croutons.

    See you at pickup.

    Mo

     

     

     

     

     

  • Collard Green Wraps

    Last year I did a post on collard green roll-ups. I have been making wraps a little differently now so I thought I would share this method and let you decide which you like best.

    This way the collard wrap is more tender and a beautiful bright green. It only takes about 10 minutes to prepare. I think it is worth the little extra effort. You can fill these with any ingredients you use in sandwiches, tacos, burritos or wraps. I mentioned in the other post, you can pre-make several of these at a time and store them them in the refrigerator until you need them. They don’t get soggy like bread or tortillas.

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    Or, you can prepare only the collards and store them in the refrigerator, just like tortillas or other wraps. It’s really handy. They keep for about a week so you can make a quick healthy satisfying meal anytime.

    Here is how I make the wrap. You need to shave the thick stem down so they wrap better and don’t break also the stem is a little too thick to eat uncooked or just blanched. I showed how to do this in more detail the other post so check it out if you are unfamiliar with how it’s done.

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    Next get some water boiling, prepare an ice bath and grab some clean tea towels for drying the collards when you remove them from the ice bath. When the water boils quickly blanch the greens for about 2 or 3 minutes, then shock them in an ice bath to cool them completely.

    Dry them (completely dry) on your clean tea towel.

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    They are ready to use or you can store them for meals later in the week.

    I made some breakfast burritos and some salad wraps and saved a few to use later.

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    Yeah, those are tater tots.

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    Like I said, you can make them and store them for later. Just roll them and don’t cut them until you are ready to eat them.

    These are fun to make and fun to eat and really filling. You don’t miss the carbs at all,  I can’t believe I am saying that being the carb queen,  but it’s true.

    Let me know if you try these or the other ones and which you like best.

    Have a great week and I’ll see you at pickup.

    Mo

     

     

     

     

  • Saag Paneer

    We are getting lots of greens in our CSA share of late, here is a great way to use lots of those greens up.

    Saag is a quick easy one dish meal or side dish. It travels well and is good warm or at room temperature. Saag is usually made with spinach, but you can use any green. I actually think saag means ‘leafy green’, so use kale or chard, or turnip greens-use what you have! You can make it luxuriously rich making it with cream, or vegan by using coconut, or any plant based milk like almond or soy. If you don’t have or like paneer sub, tofu, garbanzo beans, cubed potatoes, cauliflower or just make saag and let it stand alone.

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    Basically you cook some garlic and onions and ginger in a pan and add some Indian spices, then add a TON of finely chopped greens to that pan. When the greens have wilted down you add the liquid you like and cook that to a creamy texture. Sometimes I  use an immersion blender or a regular blender to get a really smooth texture, other times I leave it a little choppy.

    Here are two basic saag recipes that you can springboard off.

    I pretty much followed the recipe from 101 Cookbooks. I like that she uses weights for the spinach. I’ll note the changes I made in parentheses.

    INGREDIENTS

    • 1 1/2 pounds fresh baby spinach, well washed and dried (I used collards and chard)
    • 2 tablespoons ghee, clarified butter, or unsalted butter
    • 8 – 12 oz paneer cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
    • 2 medium onions, finely chopped (I used a mix of our CSA green garlic, leeks and scallions)
    • scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
    • 3 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped (see my note above)
    • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (I used two tablespoons)
    • 1 tablespoon spice mixture* see below (I used a premix Indian spice)
    • 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
    • 1 cup buttermilk (I used a mix of butter milk and yogurt because I didn’t have enough of either. Feel free to use coconut milk, or a plant based milk. )
    • splash of cream or dollop of plain yogurt (I like it with a splash of cream)
    • fresh lemon to finish, and toasted sesame seeds to sprinkle

    INSTRUCTIONS

    1. Chop the spinach well, and set aside in a large bowl.
    2. While you’re chopping spinach, cook the paneer in one tablespoon of the butter over medium heat in a large skillet. Make sure the paneer is in a single layer and use a spatula to flip it regularly so all sides get deeply brown. This typically takes 7 minutes or so. Remove from the pan and set aside.
    3. Heat the other tablespoon of butter in your largest soup pot. Add the onions and salt, and saute until the onions soften up, five minutes or so. Add the garlic, ginger, spice mixture, and turmeric. Cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant and nicely combined – a minute or two.
    4. Turn the heat up to medium-high and add the spinach to the pan all at once, if possible. Cook, stirring all the while, until the spinach is collapsed and wilted, a couple of minutes. If you need to add the spinach in batches (adding more spinach as it collapses), that is fine too, just do it as quickly as possible.
    5. Stir in the buttermilk and cream and heat gently while stirring. If the mixture seems dry, add more buttermilk a splash at a time (this rarely happens to me). Taste and add more salt if necessary and more red pepper flakes if you like. Add a generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice, stir in the paneer, sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

    This is my biggest mixing bowl full of a bunch of collards and a bunch of chard. Next photo is step #1 all chopped up and then the other ingredients assembled.

    Step #3 and #5 look how much that cooks down.

    The next two pictures are, first, where I left the saag chopped and second, where I used a blender to puree it. I prefer to puree it when I make it with more hefty greens like collards and kale. I cook it a little longer too and added an extra dollop of cream. It makes it a little less chewy.

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    If you don’t already have saag in your ‘easy meal’ repertoire I hope you give it a try.

    Have a great week, see you at pickup.

    Mo

     

     

  • Braised Collard Greens with Tomatoes

    You can quickly saute collards like you do kale and chard, but I think collards really shine when they are braised.

    Braising breaks down the collards and makes them silky. I love the taste and texture of braised collards served over rice or corn bread.

    Here is a basic braised collard recipes. You can sub stock instead of tomatoes if you like, and you can braise the collards for 20 minutes, up to two hours or so for very done collards.
    I like them cooked a somewhere in between, like an hour or so. But taste as you go and see how you like your collards.
    The beauty of braising is you don’t lose any of the nutrients, they are all in the braising liquid.

    Braised Collard Greens with Tomatoes
    1 bunch of collard greens, washed, stems removed
    14.5 oz can tomatoes
    1 large onion, diced
    2 – 4 cloves garlic, minced
    1 tablespoon olive oil
    1 cup water or cooking stock
    salt + pepper to taste
    a sprinkling of smoked paprika and a glug of cider vinegar are optional but delicious.

    Directions;
    Roll washed and stemmed collard leaves in to a large bundle. Slice into one inch ribbons.

    Chopped Collards
    Chopped Collards

    Heat olive oil over medium heat. Cook onions and garlic over medium heat until onions soften and start to turn translucent. Add tomatoes to the pan, bring to a simmer. Add collard greens and a dash of salt + pepper, in batches, tossing with tongs to wilt. Add water to the pan and simmer on medium heat for 30 minutes or up to 2 hours, until collards are thoroughly cooked.
    Season to taste with salt and pepper.

    This is what it looks like after about 30 minutes. So, take it to here or further and enjoy.

    Saute with Tomatoes

  • Collard Greens in Coconut Milk

    A lot of the ‘recipes’ I post are photo methods of preparation, not recipes to be followed to the letter. This is a really basic and versatile preparation method for any greens. You can use collards, kale, spinach, chard, or a mix of any greens.

    This is a rich and satisfying side-dish as is. Or, you can add beans, like garbanzos and serve it over rice for a main dish. Tonight we are having curry a so this will be a side dish for us.

    You will need greens, garlic, and coconut milk for this basic method. I had collards and I used two bunches.

    Collards

    Wash your greens and cut out the tough stems, and compost or discard them.

    De-stemmed

    Chop or shred your greens. You want to be able to easily move them around in the pan you will be cooking them in. I like to roll my greens like a cigar and shred them.

    Chopped

    Heat up a pan big enough to fit all your greens  and saute some garlic in some oil and a little salt. I used the green garlic we got this week, but any garlic will do. Scapes would be great if you have them.

    Saute

    Add your greens a handful at a time. They will cook down very quickly, so, if your pan gets crowded, use tongs to  turn them over and they will cook down and make room for more.

    Add shredsCook down

    The picture below is two bunches of collards in a 10 inch skillet, these are going to cook down a lot more.

    Salt and stir

    Use unsweetened coconut milk.

    Add coconut milk

    I added about 3/4 of a can of coconut milk. It cooks away and thickens so use more if you want more of a gravy or sauce and less if you want a more structured dish.

    Simmer

    Add some salt and pepper and leave it to simmer, with a lid on the pan for  at least 15 or 20 minutes. The greens will break down and soak up the coconut milk and become really delicious.

    This is after about 15 minutes on a low simmer.

    Cook way down

    This is about 35 minutes of cooking on a low simmer.

    Season to taste

    This is packed with flavor and just how I like it.

    We will be getting kale or collards or chard, probably every week for much of the summer and probably into the fall so I hope you try this method at least once and let me know how you like it.

    Have a great week.

    Mo

     

  • Collard and Toasted Pecan Pesto

    This year almost all the farms in the area had a growing problem with basil, there was a weird bacteria, or something like that that made the basil look horrible and not grow. Basically no one got a basil crop, (every year something fails). That means no one has basil pesto.
    Honestly, that is fine with me. I’m not a huge basil fan in anything other than using a few leaves on a pizza.
    I do love pesto and make pesto out of just about any green, kale, chard, parsley, and today I used some collards. If you are bummed over the lack of basil for pesto this year, maybe try this recipe.

    Cucumber with pesto

    Here is a very simple recipe. You can substitute any green you have for the collards if you like. You can freeze this or keep it in the refrigerator for a week or so.

    Collards and Toasted Pecan Pesto

    ½ small bunch collard greens, center ribs and stems removed
    Kosher salt
    ½ cup olive oil
    1 garlic clove
    ¼ cup toasted pecans
    ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
    2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
    ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
    Freshly ground black pepper

    Cook collard greens in a medium pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 2 minutes. Drain, let cool.
    Blend greens, oil, garlic clove, pecans, vinegar, Parmesan, and red pepper flakes in a food processor until a coarse purée forms; season with salt and pepper and enjoy on pasta, or vegetables or bread.

  • Collard Greens Roll-ups

    Until I worked at Red Wagon I never ate collard greens before October. I grew collards at home for years and only harvested and ate them after a frost. Collards, all leafy greens, defend themselves against freezing weather by turning starch in their cells, into sugars.
    Kale, chard, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, all are sweeter after a frost but still delicious before, and I eat them all summer long, so why not collards? Why not indeed.

    Collards

    Collards are not as bitter as kale and not as tender as chard or spinach. Collards lend themselves to longer cooking times than other greens but are surprisingly good raw, especially in roll-ups.

    Prep #1 Pretty much anything you can roll-up in a tortilla or wrap will be delicious in a collard roll-up.
    Collards have a tough stem that needs to be dealt with. You can shave it thin.

    De-stem

    Or cut it out.

    De-stem collards

    Then just put what ever filling you like in the washed collard leaf and roll it up like you would a burrito. Egg salad and tuna salad type fillings are good. But use what you like. I had some quinoa, beets and avocados.

    Add ingredients

    Roll up

    Talk about healthy and filling. You can make several roll-ups at one time, and keep them in the refrigerator for several days as a make ahead meal.