Braised Collard Greens

Collard Greens, a southern staple, are a hearty leafy green vegetable high in calcium, potassium, magnesium, folate, and vitamins A, C, E, and K. Traditionally, collards are cooked with smoked ham hocks or smoked turkey legs; ingredients which might be difficult for those outside of the southern region to find. This modern recipe calls for bacon, which is available to everyone.

The way I cook collards is similar to the way I cook kale or swiss chard, only collard greens have a much tougher texture that benefits from a longer, slower cooking time. Also, the stems don’t really soften during the cooking process so you may want to consider pickling them.

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Braised Collard Greens

makes 2-4 servings

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 bunch collar greens (about 6 large stems, 12-14 inches in length), washed

• 1/2 cup chicken stock (try my homemade)

• 2 sliced bacon, sliced

• 1/4 cup chopped onion

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

• 1-2 teaspoons red wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)

• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Wash collard greens well and remove stems (save to make pickles); chop collard leaves into 2x2-inch pieces and set aside until needed.

2. Starting with a cold, 3.5 quart or larger heavy-bottomed dutch oven (here’s the one I used), sauté bacon over medium heat until brown and crispy; remove bacon from dutch oven and set aside.

3. In the remaining bacon drippings, sauté onions until they start to caramelize, then add the minced garlic (and optional crushed red pepper flakes) and sauté, stirring continuously, for 30-60 seconds until the garlic is fragrant; add chicken stock and scrape bottom of dutch oven to dissolve browned bits from pan.

4. Add chopped collards to dutch oven and stir well; cover and lower heat to simmer for 40-50 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Add a splash of water at any time if the pot liquor evaporates and leaves the dutch oven dry.

5. Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar and reserved bacon; taste and add additional red wine vinegar and salt and pepper if needed.

Low Country Boil

We have good friends who hail from “The Low Country” and they recently treated us to an authentic low-country boil. Not only was it incredibly delicious, it was also incredibly fun. I couldn’t resist recreating it at home a few days later.

The recipe below is cooked on the stovetop and makes enough to feed 4. To feed a larger crowd, scale the recipe up as much as you need and take the cooking outdoors using a turkey fryer setup.

To begin, we need to make the cooking liquid. It’s super simple - all you need is water and old bay seasoning.

Bring the water and old bay to a boil.

Add the potatoes and let them boil for 10 minutes.

Next, add the corn to the potatoes and cook for another 1o minutes.

Mmmm…. it’s starting to smell pretty good in here!

Okay, time to add the sausage to the pot and cook for 5 minutes (this is when I like to start covering the pot).

And lastly, add the shrimp and continue cooking just until they’re done (this will only take a few minutes). No need for the shrimp to be completely submerged in the liquid - covering the pot with a lid will allow the steam to cook them through.

And that’s all there is to it - super simple and super delicious! Remove everything from the cooking liquid and serve with butter, lemon wedges, cocktail sauce, and if you have it, chopped fresh parsley.

For the most festive presentation, serve directly on a table covered with several layers of newspaper (see notes below). When it’s time to clean up, just roll up the newspaper containing all the empty corn cobs and shrimp shells and throw it away.

PS - Don’t forget the paper towels. Enjoy!

Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• turkey fryer kit https://amzn.to/3iKGGqc

• old bay seasoning https://amzn.to/37JxjAL

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Authentic Low Country Boil

makes 4 servings

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 8 cups water

• 6 tablespoons old bay seasoning (or more)

• 1 1/2 pounds red skinned potatoes (about 2-inches in diameter)

• 6 ears corn, shucked and cut into 2 or 3 pieces

• 1 1/2 pounds smoked sausage links, cut into 3-inch lengths

• 1 1/2 pounds shell-on, deveined shrimp

• Garnish: melted butter, lemon wedges, cocktail sauce, chopped fresh parsley

Additional:

• lots of napkins or a roll of paper towels

Directions

1. In a 10 to 12-quart stockpot over high heat, combine water and old bay seasoning.

2. Add potatoes and bring to a boil for 10 minutes.

3. Add corn and continue cooking for 10 minutes

4. Add sausage, cover the pot, and continue cooking for 5 minutes.

5. Add shrimp, cover the pot, and continue cooking just until the shrimp are opaque and cooked through, about 2-3 minutes (it’s okay if the shrimp aren’t submerged in the cooking liquid).

6. Turn off the heat; remove potatoes, sausage, corn, and shrimp from cooking liquid and serve with butter, lemon wedges, cocktail sauce, and plenty of paper towels.

Notes

• Feel free to add a sliced onion or two to the cooking liquid.

• Feel free to add a beer or two to the cooking liquid.

• If your stockpot has a pasta insert that’s deep enough to hold all the ingredients, use it. It will make removing the cooked ingredients from the hot cooking liquid fast and easy.

• Feel free to add additional seafood such as oysters, clams, crab legs, crawfish, etc.

• Some sides to consider: coleslaw, crusty bread, sliced fresh garden tomatoes.

• Low country boil is also known as “lowcountry boil” and “frogmore stew”.

• For the most festive presentation, serve directly on a table covered with several layers of newspaper. When it’s time to clean up, just roll up the newspaper containing all the empty corn cobs and shrimp shells and throw it away. If you’re concerned about moisture damaging your tabletop, place a plastic tablecloth under the newspaper.