Skip to main content

Collards and Kale

The growing season for most things is over in this temperate clime, but thankfully, some greens, notably collards and kale, and to a lesser degree, chard, will keep growing for some time. Some kales will even overwinter, and can be harvested from beneath the snow.

But we don't see these wonderful greens in the stores too much, and more's the pity. Besides being available fresh and in season when other veggies are not, they are a fine source of vitamins and minerals, and delicious when properly prepared.

Both kale and collards are somewhat tough, and take a knack to cook properly. Besides cooking them longer than some other greens, one trick is to cut them in a similar way as one would chiffonade leafy herbs like sage - roll the leaves up into a cylinder, then slice the cylinder as thinly as you can to make thin little collard or kale strips. These will cook more rapidly and become more tender than if you simply cook your greens whole or tear them into chunks.

The following is a simple recipe to help you get started using collards and kale.

Collard, Bean and Chicken Soup

5 Cups chicken broth
1 Tablespoon crushed garlic (one enormous or several smaller cloves)
1 large bunch Collards or kale
2 15oz cans white beans
chunks of leftover chicken
1 large boiled russett potato

I put this together one evening in order to get rid of some leftover poached chicken. If you don't have leftover poached chicken, you could just pan-fry a breast, cube it and throw it in.

Clean, stem and cut up the collards or kale. Bring broth to a simmer and toss in the collards, the beans, and the garlic. Peel and chop the spud and throw it in also. Simmer for 15 minutes or so, so the bean and spud starch thickens the soup a bit and the collards get cooked. Toss in the chicken and simmer another 5 minutes in order to heat through.

This is peasant soup with a passion. All it needs is good peasant bread, some good wine and a friend to enjoy it with.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chicos and Beans!

Chicos and Beans, Ese! They go together like Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. But what ARE they, and why are they so good? Chicos are as far as I know an ingredient peculiar to northeastern New Mexico. Chicos are sweet corn which is roasted in an outdoor wood-fired adobe oven called an Horno (pronounced or-no, as rhyming with “porno,” but don't make that association with the older generation.) The result is that the corn is preserved, but it keeps its sweetness and the sugars in the corn are caramelized, resulting in a wonderful, distinctive flavor. It is best to buy them from someone who has roasted them, as one never really knows how old the ones in the stores may be. Just like beans, if they are more than a year old, you have to cook them forever to make them tender. The classic winter repast of chicos and beans is about the sweetness of the ingredients and how they harmonize with each other. The chicos provide the sweetness of roasted corn, the smoked ham hocks provide the swe...
3 comments
Read more

Tasso - ham the cajun way

The ham most of us eat today has only a little in common with the ham that was common at the table a century ago. Yes, it is smoked, cured pork. But today, that ham is typically cured by injecting it with a solution of brine and flavor additives; faster, and it puts the consumer in the position of paying ham prices for water. Look carefully at the supermarket label and you will likely see in small print, "ham and water product" or "10% added water by weight." The country hams of old were a different beast. Pork, yes, and generally pork leg, they would be rubbed down with a mixture of salt, sugar (or molasses) and spices, and left in this for days or even weeks, a process which drew water out of the pork, jump-starting the drying process as it preserved the ham. This was prior to the days of the refrigerator and freezer, and that was the core concept of the ham - by drying the meat out, infusing the flesh with salt and nitrates, and smoking it, the perishable po...
Post a Comment
Read more

Oregano de la Sierra

One of the culinary herbs peculiar to this region is Oregano de la Sierra. It is used in place of oregano in the local cuisine. It is not oregano. The latin name for this plant is Monarda Menthefolium, and it is a variety of bee balm. It does have a flavor reminiscent of oregano with a bit of mint. It is a beautiful plant. It is normally foraged in the mountainous areas, hence its name, which translates as "oregano of the mountains."Those who enjoy word play will note that the word "oregano" itself derives from the Greek "ganos" meaning brightness or ornament, and "oros" meaning mountains. So cross-culturally, "oregano de la sierra" means "ornament of the mountains of the mountains." The photo at right is of oregano de la sierra growing in my back yard. It is drought-hardy and likes filtered shade. As you may guess, being a bee balm, bees love it, so it doesn't just feed you, it feeds our little friends as well. If you wan...
Post a Comment
Read more