Slow Cooked Collard Greens

Yum, greens.

A long time ago, my friend who hails from the great state of South Carolina taught me how to slow cook collard greens southern style. The original recipe includes a smoke ham hock, but over the years both of us have pared down our recipes to healthier, more convenient versions of the original. Any way you cook it, a huge pot of collards is warm, homey, and comforting with some rice and beans or just by itself.

Collards shrink like crazy, so I don't really find it worth my time and money to make this dish unless collards are in season. I got an armload (too much to stuff in a plastic grocery bag) for $2 yesterday, and it shrank down to about a two quarts of greens. Here's the recipe:

• an armload of collard greens, washed, sliced off the stem, and cut into long two inch wide strips perpendicular to where the stalk used to be. You should have a sinkful of greens to start.
  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 bulb garlic, peeled and lightly smashed
• 1 can vegetable stock
• 2 cans' worth of water
• a smoked ham hock, two sliced of bacon, or a few pieces of ham. I sliced the butt end of a mini ham into large slices.
  
• salt and pepper
• dried pepper flakes (optional)
• 1/2 sliced onion (optional)
  
• dried spices (optional, I used a little fennel this time)

Heat a large dutch oven or pot with heavy lid, add the olive oil, and cook the garlic and onions over medium heat while you clean your collard greens. When the onions and garlic start giving off flavor, add the stock and water and bring to a simmer. Add the sliced collard greens, stirring and adding slowly until everything fits into the pot. Add a generous crack of pepper and a few pinches of whatever spices you like. Don't add extra salt until later, when you know how salty your stock was. Bring the liquid back to a boil, then down to a simmer.

Cover the pot and let the collards cook for at least an hour and up to three, over the lowest possible simmer. Stir every ten minutes to make sure the collards cook evenly. The liquid doesn't need to cover all the greens, but it should cover them at least halfway. A heavy lid will make sure everything doesn't dry out. Served with some white rice and sliced fruit, this will be how we spend about $5 on dinner for two tonight, with leftovers for lunch.