Collard Greens?

I'm not a picky eater, I like good well prepared food made with fresh ingredients, however when I ventured out to buy collard greens the other day I had a whole different idea in mind.

Not sure if my mother ever bought and cooked them at home here in Canada while growing up but back home in Iraq swiss chard is very popular and I love the stuff!! The stalks are my favourite part. I figured all the greens are similar so why not give it a try.

With the Collards I didn't know what to expect, but I intended to do a raw wrap or pocket sort of thing with the blanched leaves.

I thinly sliced the leftover bits after cutting out the stalks and saving pieces big enough to roll pockets out, with these bits I fried them up to see how they taste and they were very tough!

Something seemed wrong so I went straight to the net and youtube and watched several videos and all of them said slow cooking of doing a quick cook method but I was not liking the tough texture even after 2 more batches of doing it the right way.

Long and slow seemed the only way left so I decided to put a Middle Eastern spin on it, and surprisingly the leaves did soften up and it tastes amazing! Served on a bed of healthy quinoa instead of rice this is definately a way I could get to enjoy these greens.

Collard greens my way

- About 2 cups Collard greens, washed, dried and stemed. Cut into thin strips (stack the leaves, roll it up and begin slicing with a knife and you'll have ribbons)

- 2 tbsp oil

- 1/2 onion chopped

- 2 cloves garlic

- 1/3 cup strained tomato puree or 1 tbsp tomato paste

- 1 tsp pomegranate molasses

- Salt

- 1 tsp Lemon juice

Directions:

Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the garlic and sautee until transluscent then add the garlic, add the greens immediately and sautee. The Collards turn bright green in colour.

Cover with boiled water and add tomato paste, some salt (not much! keep tasting)

Simmer on low for about 2 hours.

After 2 hours check for salt, and adjust, add pomegranate molasses and lemon juice, stir and allow to cook for another 10 mins.

Serve!

The same recipe can be made with swiss chard, spinach or any other greens but those cook a lot quicker so 20 mins tops and it should be done.