Collards

This is my last post about the food we had for Hall's birthday. The rest of the recipes for creamed corn, cornbread (MUST try if you sorta like cornbread, you will LOVE cornbread after tasting this easy recipe), and butter beans can be found in Frank Stitt's cookbook A Southern Table. We'll start out by saying I do Collards different. A lot different than most people. I don't stew them for hours with ham hocks or salted pork. I do love them prepared that way but my most favorite way to cook collards is to prepare them much like you would fresh spinach, kale or swiss chard. I heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large heavy bottom skillet with a lid. Once the oil is hot I toss in my collard leaves (chopped and rinsed, ribs removed). Once the leaves are in I toss in 1/2 tsp kosher salt, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion powder, a few shakes of liquid smoke (optional) and some red pepper flakes to taste. Put the lid on and let them saute for 5 minutes stirring once in the middle. Voila! Another favorite way to prepare them is the chop up 2-3 slices bacon or pancetta, and saute in the pan until just crispy. Toss in 1 pkg of sliced button or baby bella mushrooms. Add some salt. Cook until mushrooms are just brown. Adding some olive oil if necessary. Once mushrooms are done toss in collards, put a lid on it and cook five minutes stirring once in the middle. Delicious.