Marie’s Southern greens

Ask my mom who taught her how to make collard greens and she will toss her shoulders back with pride and say “my mother in law” My grandmother was a firecracker. A short and sassy woman with beautiful green eyes and hips for days (thanks girl!) I spent a lot of weekends with her at the hair salon, watching “In the heat of the night” and in the kitchen. She had such a grace about her. I remember this overly ornate china cabinet in her kitchen, filled to the brim with the prettiest plates I had ever seen and could never use. In honor of my late grandmother Marie pull out your good plates for this one, we are making greens!

Ingredients:

• 4-6 large bundles of collards, stemmed and chopped

• 1 packet Lipton vegetable soup mix

• 1 stick butter (salted)

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped

• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

• 1 tsp garlicky herb & onion (dash of dacy)

• 1 tsp Adobo mojo (dash of dacy)

• 1 TBSP kosher salt

• 1 tsp black pepper

• 3 cloves garlic, chopped

• 2 smoked ham hocks

• 2 smoked turkey wings

• 1 quart chicken stock

• 4 cups water

• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

• 1 TBSP honey

• Dash of worcestershire

The secret to really good greens is layering flavors. Sweating down your aromatics, vegetables and smoked meat is KEY! These measurements are a guide. You will notice that Taste and adjust comes up quite often in this recipe. It’s a feeling. I guess that is where the term soul food comes from. It has to feel good to you!

Step 1:

Remove stalk and wash green leaves thoroughly. Roll leaves and chop into smaller pieces.

Step 2:

Add butter, olive oil, onion, Lipton packet, kosher salt, black pepper and smoked meat to the stock pot. Cook until the onions are translucent and meat is fragrant. This should take about 10mins.

Step 3:

Add chopped garlic, red pepper flakes and chicken stock to the mix. Simmer another 10mins. Add dash of dacy seasonings and water to the stock pot. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Cook stock on medium heat for 30mins with the lid on.

Step 4:

Add honey, vinegar and the dash of worcestershire and chopped greens to savory stock with a slotted spoon until fully submerged. I use the smoked meat as weights to keep greens in liquid. Simmer on med/low for 1 hour.

Step 5:

After 1 hour smoked meat should be falling off the bone tender. Remove and shred meat. Taste and adjust as needed. Depending on desired tenderness cook greens an additional 30miins to an hour. Return smoked meat to the greens.

Serve and ENJOY!