Collards – NealEnJoy

Collards Are

Posted on January 14, 2024January 14, 2024 by Neal Saye

Collards are probably my favorite winter vegetable. (Delete “probably.”)

Yesterday morning Robert and I went to our incredibly and beautifully diverse Savannah Farmers Market, where I grabbed a bunch of the green delicacy.

I rushed back home to clean them (the collards, not the farmers) and create my favorite part of the collarding experience— making the collard bouquet!

Isn’t she beautiful?!

Next, the chopping into manageable pieces. (Which sounds a bit too much like “Sweeny Todd” to suit my fancy.)

After placing the greens into an already-been-cooking mixture of broth and ham seasoning meat, and impatiently waiting for them to slowly cook …

DELICIOUS JOY!

Wait! Don’t throw those too-thick collard stems away, for goodness sake. Make homemade vegetable stock with them.

Food Joy

Collarding Up

Posted on September 29, 2022September 29, 2022 by Neal Saye

I love fall food.

One of my VERY favorites is, well, ANYTHING in the Leafy Greens Family.

Collards, Turnips, Mustard, even Poke Salad. (You have to be careful with Poke Salad—it can be poisonous. But it was my Granny’s favorite, and she taught me how to find it. In the wild.)

Well, yesterday, I found a beautiful bunch of local Savannah collards at our favorite little grocer near us in Habersham Village.

If you have read a bit on my blog, you know that HR (Husband Robert) is the fancy pants chef, and I’m the I-cook-what-Mama-taught-me fellow. Usually in cast iron.

So last night I pulled out our cast iron (heavy!) Dutch oven. (Okay, technically Robert pulled it out.)

And I went to work.

First, you gotta wash the greens, if you buy them fresh. And why wouldn’t you? A time-consuming task.

My Washed-Collards Bouquet.

I cut the thickest stems away from the leaves.

But don’t throw them away! I make homemade vegetable broth with them.

After cooking the ham hocks in water to provide the base for the “pot liquor,” I sauté onions and garlic in a bit of olive oil in the Dutch oven, pour the liquid from the ham hocks in, layer the ham hocks on top, and cover until the greens wilt.

Two hours of slow simmering later …

HR loves my pickled jalapeños, so he had to put some of that “sauce” and pickles on his greens.

The beautifully delicious “pot liquor” …

Oh, and what to do with the leftovers? Well, give some to ex-wife Donna, of course.

With a side of “healthy corn.”

And freeze the rest.

Fall Collard Joy

Holidays and Seasonal Changes

Happy New Year! (Four Days Late)

Posted on January 5, 2022January 5, 2022 by Neal Saye

Joyful 2022 to You!

So Robert and I did not get to have our traditional southern New Year’s feast of black-eyed peas, greens and cornbread on Jan 1st. (Because I couldn’t have peas or corn a week before a certain procedure I endured yesterday-which you can read about, with far too much detail, in tomorrow morning’s post).

So we had them all tonight …