I made myself a pot of greens this past weekend and they were so damn good, I thought I’d share the recipe.  Greens are always good for what ails you.  In a hectic, harried, stressful, bank-failing world, sometimes your system gets thrown off a bit, if you know what I mean.  Greens will cure that by morning.  Plus, they freeze well.  The goodness after the jump.

Ingredients:

  • Two bags triple rinsed collard greens
  • One bag triple rinsed mustard greens (or turnip greens or kale)
  • 2-3 smoked turkey necks (or any kind of smoked meat)
  • 1/2 peeled brown onion
  • 1 tsp. red pepper flakes (or to taste-I like them hot)
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • 2-3 whole cloves garlic
  • 1 tsp. whole peppercorns
  • Water
  • 1 tbsp. vinegar – any kind that you like

Assembly:

  • Run a sink full of water and throw the greens in.  They say they’re rinsed, but I rinse again anyway.
  • While the greens are soaking, pour enough olive oil in the bottom of a large stock pot to coat.
  • Place the half onion face down in the oil and turn the fire on to medium.
  • When the onion starts to gently sizzle and the kitchen smells just great, add the pepper flakes, peppercorns, garlic cloves and turkey necks.
  • Cook for only a minute or two.  Don’t burn the garlic or pepper flakes.
  • Add water to half fill the stock pot.
  • Bring to a boil and then cover and turn down to a simmer
  • Cook for about 45 minutes to an hour.  You want to bring the flavor out of the necks particularly.
  • Sit down and have a beer.
  • Agitate the greens in the water a bit.
  • Add the greens to the pot with the water that clings to them.  It’s going to look like there’s too many greens for the pot but greens cook way way down.  Put the top on, even if it’s sitting on top of greens.
  • Kick the heat up to bring the water to a boil.
  • Once boiling, bring back down to a low simmer.
  • You can cook as long as you like, but at least 45 minutes until the greens are tender.
  • When tender, add the vinegar to the pot and cook for another minute.

I get myself a bowl of greens (with a generous amount of pot likker) and some thinly sliced scallions on top, a glass of a deep rich oaky red wine and I’m a happy girl. The pot likker can be used as a base for other kinds of soups as well.  You can also freeze the greens in small serving sized baggies. I hope you enjoy.  Hit me up with any questions in comments.