CSA - Collard greens recipes?

[sunnysandiegan]

We got our second CSA box today. I am not sure, but we looked up pictures online and are fairly sure we received our first collard greens. Neither of us have ever seen leaves like these before! I had no idea what to do with them, so I washed the massive leaves and chopped them up and added them to a hot skillet where I had the following:

olive oil
bacon fat
garlic cloves
diced onion

I stirred it up until it looked a bit wilted (took a lot longer than we anticipated), then tossed it onto a plate, shook some of my homemade salt blend (RealSalt, Celtic, & Himalayan) on and ground some peppercorns over it all, and then took the first hesitant bite with DH watching my face and not listening to me. (I have a glass face.) YUMMY!!!! Even DH ate a bite and was pleasantly surprised.

Okay, so there is a lot more of these large leaves. What else can I do with them? I'd love some side dish type recipes, please....

[Gingercat]

Well, you can make Greek dolmades!

The wrapping leaf of choice of course for dolmades is the vine leaf, but since it is only available in the summer (I think ), people tend to make them in the winter using various kinds of collard greens (and these are actually called lahanodolmades).

You can make them either vegetarian (with brown rice and veggies, mostly onions and different kind of fresh herbs like dill) or with ground beef and rice.

Now I'm so much of a traditional Greek cook myself (I just enjoy them when we go to visit either my mom or my MIL ) but if you google the word "dolmades" you'd come up with lots of yummy recipes!

[BetsyS]

Collards are one of my favorites! I'm from the deep south, and true to the stereotype, I like them cooked long and slow. It makes the texture almost velvet-y. And, I really, really love them this way. So, if that turns you off, just skip this.

Oh, by the way, we always eat all the juice from the pot (the pot-likker), as well as the greens. We tend to eat it with cornbread, and I use the bread to absorb all the liquid. Sometimes we run out of the juice before we run out of collards.

This is the kind of recipe I like (though this is from a local fancy chef, so I don't always make them this fancy).

[lolo'smom]

What saved me with all of those interesting veggies in my CSA was quiche. I never knew what to do with all of the greens but quiche is really tasty and easy to make.

I usually cook down my greens when I get them all at once so that I don't have to keep doing it during the week. I cook them in a skillet with seasoning and sometimes a little onion or garlic, whatever I have on hand. At this point you can seperate them into portions and freeze them if you like so that you have pre-cooked portions on hand, yay!

For the quiche crust I found this super easy pie crust online:
1 1/2 c flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 c oil
2 tbsp milk
mix all ingredients in a 9 inch pie pan, pressing the crust up the sides. poke a few holes in the bottom of the crust with a fork and bake at 400 for 15 mins or until slightly browned. sooooo easy!!

The quiche recipe itself is from the Joy of Cooking called "chard tart":
they recommend you cook down 1lb of greens with onion and garlic, salt pepper and basil
then you'll need
3 eggs
1/3 cream or half and half
1 c grated parmesan cheese
mix together eggs, cream, and cheese, add in greens, pour into crust and bake for 25-35mins or until firm

I have found that this recipe does well with 1 more egg and a little more cream (I use half and half). I serve this with a crusty bread and everyone loves it!

You can add anything in that you wish to add like ham, other veggies, etc. I have even thrown leftover chicken in. It still tastes so good! I guess you could try changing the cheese to cheddar or swiss, never tried that but I bet it's good. I have cooked this quiche (or tart) with spinach, collards, even kale, all tasted good.

Other uses for greens are soups, stir frys, and alternatives to lettuce on sandwiches or in salads, of course depending on the green...

That's all I got!

Have fun and good luck!!

[sunnysandiegan]

Thanks everyone!

lolo'smom - QUICHE!!! What a brillant idea for all the uncommon (to us) veggies from our CSA! Thank you for sharing your recipe.

[es1967]

This is the best collards recipe I have tried. I think I made it like 4 days in a row thats how much I loved it! Hope no one else has posted it. I didn't read thru all the other posts too carefully.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntj6f3rvZyk