Some Tasty Collard Greens...

   Collard greens are a staple southern vegetable and often grow wild in that region.  Slave culture in the southern states used these as a food source because of their rich vitamin content and their abundance and ability to enhance meals.

  Collard greens, often cooked or eaten with black eyed peas, are rich in key nutrients and are most often cooked in the south with some type of smoked meat, most commonly, pork.  As part of the cabbage family, they can be used in a mixture of other greens such as kale, spinach and turnip greens.  They are very easy to prepare. 

  To prepare my collard greens, I most often use chopped bacon, as it is one of the easiest smoked meats to find and to work with.    To begin, select a good bundle of greens, some bacon, onion, chicken stock and vinegar.  While this sounds like an odd combination, it turns out well.

  Put on a stew pot put a few tablespoons of olive oil and bring to about 300 degrees (medium heat). Chop a whole onion, about half a pound of bacon and a couple of cloves of minced garlic.  First add the bacon and onion.  Once the onion is soft, put in your garlic and cook until it becomes fragrant.  Then, add your greens, frying them until they start to wilt.  Once that happens, add your chicken stock, vinegar, a table spoon of salt, a pinch of red pepper flakes if you like them spicy, and cover, reducing the heat.  Simmer this for 45 minutes to an hour until your greens are tender.  

   This dish pairs well with cornbread, black-eyed peas, fried chicken or catfish.  I love to serve these with fried catfish, cornbread and fried okra.  It is probably my all-time favorite southern meal. 

Ingredients:

1 bundle of greens, cut in two

1 onion, chopped

½ pound bacon, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon of pepper

A pinch of red pepper flakes

3 cups chicken broth

½ cup vinegar

Red Beans and Rice...

Served as either a side dish or a main course, Red Beans and Rice is a Southern food that has its roots in the pre-colonization of the Americas.  Spread by the Native Americans, the Red Bean, or kidney bean, was then cultivated in the colonies and plated by Spanish settlers in Louisiana. 

   Hattian immigrants to New Orleans brought the spicy red bean and rice dish with them and enslaved Africans we known to have this dish as a part of their diet as well.  Thus, many variations can be experienced throughout the deep south.

   Tradition has it that women would cook this dish on Mondays with the left-over meat from Sunday dinner as they could let it simmer all day while they were doing the laundry.

  Whatever the tradition, red beans and rice is a tasty southern dish that can be a whole meal or part of a meal.  I typically cook the New Orleans style using a spicy Cajun sausage called Andouille.  There are also recipes with pork chops, ham, ham bones and other varieties of pork. 

Cooking red beans and rice is not a short process.  Typically, it is started the night before by soaking the beans.   When you are ready to put them on to cook, you will chop the onion, celery, green pepper and garlic and soften them by cooking them up in the pot with some oil and the sausage.  Once those are ready remove the sausage and cut them diagonally (about a 45 degree angle  and then add them back to the mix,  Then, dump the beans in, add about six cups of water, the bay leaves, and other spices and let it simmer until you are ready to eat or until the beans are soft.   You can also use chicken stock here if you have it or want to use it.  * A word of caution;  when adding cayenne pepper, keep in mind it will intensify with cooking. 

  To thicken, smash about a cups worth of beans against the side of the pot or by separating and smashing in a separate container.  I prefer to take mine out and mash them and then add them back into the pot. It adds another step, but I want to them mix in well with the rest of the pot.

  At dinner time, cook up your rice.  Add rice and beans to a bowl and enjoy. 
This isn’t a hard dish to make, but it does require time and preparation. 

 Ingredients

1 lbs. red beans

1lbs Andouille Sausage

1 chopped onion

1 chopped green pepper

2 TBS minced garlic

2 stalks celery chopped

4 tbsp. oil

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper

1 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp rubbed sage

1 tbsp. dried parley

1 tbsp. Cajun seasoning