Let me introduce you to a humble side dish of savory collard greens. Actually, these are quite simple to make but just require a bit of planning ahead. If you need to know how to prep a collard green or what they look like raw you can find it at my How to Prep Collard Greens post.
Collard greens are robust and when cooked do not turn out slimy like spinach. In their raw state the leaves are quite bitter and tough which is why they require a bit of cooking time. Once they are cooked the leaves impart a tangy bite along with a aldente texture.
The nutrient value of collard greens are quite high and you can click here to find out why you should include collards in your diet.
If you have prepped your collard greens ahead of time then the cooking time will only be the amount of time it takes you to make dinner. These make a great side dish with any meat and they are great for lunch leftovers too.
Don’t forget to buy these organic!
You’ll want to be sure that you purchase these in the organic section as they have been found to have high pesticide residue on them in the non-organic section. EWG has put them on their Dirty Dozen Plus list. Anything on EWG’s dirty dozen list (or dirty dozen plus list) should always be purchased organic. If we are eating these healthy foods, why ruin it by ingesting a bunch of pesticides with them causing our poor liver to detox harder?
- 3 Bunches of Organic Collard Greens, washed and chopped (see my "How to Prep Collards Greens" link)
- 1 Whole Yellow Onion, diced
- 3 cloves of Garlic, minced
- 3 Tlbs. Bacon Fat (or fat of choice but I highly recommend bacon far due to the flavor it imparts.)
- 1½ tsp. Sea Salt (or more to taste) *see note*
- 10-15 grinds from your Freshly Ground Pepper grinder
- ½ C. - 1 C. of homemade Organic Chicken, Beef or Pork broth. *see note*
- Begin by adding your bacon fat to a stock pot over medium heat. Add onions. Saute onions until they have a little brown color to them. Add garlic to pan and stir, cooking for about 1-2 minutes but be careful not to burn it.
- Next, add the collard greens to the stock pot and stir onions, garlic and collards until mixed up.
- Then, add the broth, salt and pepper to your pot and stir again.
- Cover and simmer over low heat for 45 minutes to 1 hour until leaves are tender.
You may need to add or subtract salt to your liking. Under salted greens taste bland and boring but the perfect amount of salt is subjective.
Give these a try, I bet you”ll like them. They have become one of my favorite veggie side dishes. Who knows, maybe they will become one of yours too?
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