Collard Greens

I was talking to my brother Russell the other day on the phone. He lives in North Carolina and was saying I needed to come out on a visit. He started listing some of my favorite yummy Southern foods - fried okra, southern hot dogs, collard greens, fried chicken, hush puppies, etc. In the summer, John and I seem to BBQ a ton. Usually about once every three weeks or so, we make ribs and chicken. Instead of one of the boring side dishes I normally make, I decided to give collard greens a whirl. They sure did turn out awesome and took a hint of my Southern food craving away.

Not the best picture - but these were gooood!

1 large bunch or 2 small bunches of collard greens
3 or 4 ham hocks (you could use bacon if you are scared of ham hocks)
1 small onion diced
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 tablespoon of butter
salt and pepper to taste
16 cups of water (3 quarts)


Bring your water to a boil in a large pot. Add the ham hocks, garlic, onion, and salt and pepper. Turn to medium and simmer until they fall off the bone (1.5 to 2 hours).  In the meantime, make sure your collard greens are really clean - I soaked mine for several hours - change the water several times in between. Also make sure you remove the stems that run down the middle. Stack your leaves on top of each other (probably do about 8-10 at a time) and roll up. Cut into 1" pieces. Throw your greens into the pot with the butter and cover. Let simmer for about an hour.

I like to put a little bit of vinegar on mine when I eat them too. It cuts through some of the richness from the pork.

John liked these as well - I think it is because they had the hamhocks in them. Well, and he isn't that picky ;)

Enjoy!