Quick collard greens

Many people avoid buying collard greens because they have a reputation for taking a very, very long time to cook (which is only partially true….sure, you can put them in your slow cooker all day…but that’s a different recipe).  This recipe will have you enjoying your collards as part of (or even as) a weeknight meal in about 35 minutes. Nutritious.  Delicious.  Easy!

My husband is not a big vegetable guy.  Loves his corn and tomatoes and carrots…but broccoli, cauliflower, even green beans, not so much.  But he eats these greens!  He likens the collard greens in this dish to a “hearty spinach”.  That sounds about right.   If you haven’t tried collards yet, now is the right time …fresh and tender from the farm.

This dish can be eaten as a side dish…we ate ours with ribs.  Or it can be the main dish….add beans (kidney, black, navy…) and pasta.  And it can easily be a vegetarian main dish by replacing the bacon with olive oil and adding beans and pasta.

But let’s start with the collards….

Ingredients:
A bunch of collard greens
4 strips of bacon, diced and fried crisp
1 spring onion
a lemon

Directions:
1.  Prepare the collard greens by cutting off the stems (they are edible but require a longer cooking time).  Cut the stem out of the leaf.  Roll some of the green leaves together and slice in thin strips.

2.  Fry the bacon in a large frying pan (use one pan to cook this entire dish) until crisp.  Take the bacon out and set aside.
3.  Dice the onion and fry in the bacon drippings. (I always fry on medium to medium high heat….that way things don’t burn…)

4.  When the onions are translucent (about 5 minutes), toss in the sliced collard greens.  Stir the greens around so they don’t burn.  They will cook down and they will soften.  About 15 to 20 minutes.  
5.  Squeeze a half lemon over the warm greens and stir.
6.  Place the cooked greens on a plate and sprinkle with the crispy bacon pieces.  Serve!

Like I said a great side dish that can easily become a main dish.

Collard greens and spring onion purchased from Muth Organic Farm.
Bacon (no nitrate) purchased from Hillacres Pride.

On the dinner plate….pork ribs (Hillacres Pride), corn (A.T.Buzby), yellow zucchini (Muth Organic), cole slaw (made from Muth Organic cabbage), collards (Muth organic), tomatoes (A.T. Buzby).