Saturday, November 6, 2010

Southerners? A little help, please.

I need some help from my Southern readers, or anyone with a background in the cooking that emanates from that portion of the country.

Here's the deal...

You guys know that every Saturday I pick up my fruits and vegetables from the co-op. This week, the basket included collard greens. I know approximately how to cook them in the traditional method. I also know that cooking a mess of greens traditionally will not likely be on my diet plan. I'm fairly certain that bacon fat and/or ham hocks are not considered "healthy".

Is there any possible method for preparing collard greens without the high fat? One that tastes great as well? I thought about trying to slip it into a salad all casual like and pretending not to realize what it was ("No honey, I don't know why the lettuce is so bitter today.") I just can't do that to my family. Plus, I totally can't lie with a straight face.

So, any input would be appreciated. A decent, healthy version of a traditional recipe shouldn't be that hard to come up with can it?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess you don't have any collard greens fans out there,I can't say that I blame them:-) Now if it were beet or dandelion greens, that would be another story...

Mirth said...

Apparently you are correct. I may just have to wing it and hope for the best.

Wendi said...

Can you put them in brownie mix?

Mirth said...

Well Wendi, I hadn't even thought about that particular possibility. I'm guessing if you can hide other plant products in brownies that I should be able to slip in some collard greens without too much issue. Unless I'm missing something, I can't see a downside here. Good call!

Bo said...

Sorry; just saw this.

My advice is that a little bit of the "bad stuff" will go further than you think. You don't have to have a ton of bacon fat, or ham, or whatever in there to get the flavor, particularly if you cook them a good long while. Try a tablespoon of bacon fat for the whole pot. I think you'll be pleased.

Serve with sport pepper vinegar and cornbread. :)

Mirth said...

Thanks Bo. I'm going to pick up some ham today and go for it. I would do the bacon fat but the issue is it has to come from somewhere and I don't think I could not eat the bacon itself once I'd cooked it. Put it this way, if I was a vegetarian, I would one that would totally still eat bacon. Bacon is like happiness wrapped up in, well, bacon :)