Collard Greens
Just looking at this bowl of collard greens has my mouth watering. To be completely honest with you though I am a new fan of collard greens, in the past if someone would mention collard greens and I would scrunch my nose at them. I think it was more for the simple reason that it was one of the main foods we would serve to our Iguana. Then about a year ago my older brother was having a cookout and was making chicken and collard greens and they smelt so good. Now my older brother is very persistent when he wants you to try something so when he insisted I try them I folded and did, boy am I glad I did. The collards he made were so delicious that I was determined to find a recipe and make some of my own. I knew the basic ingredients my brother used and searched the internet for a similar recipe, when I didn't find exactly what I wanted I decided to wing it and this is what I came up with. These delicious smoky, flavorful collard greens. My version I would not say are the healthiest of side dishes to have with meals, so these I only make on occasion. So thanks to my brother for opening me up to the world of collard greens. I hope you enjoy my recipe.
What You Will Need:
Ingredients:
1 - 16 oz. bag of collard greens (you may use fresh but be sure to clean them very well and remove stems, my bag comes cleaned and steamed) **there is a lot of meat in this dish so if you have a big enough pot I would suggest 2 bags)
1 lb. package of salt pork
Salt and Pepper to taste
8 oz. Apple Cider Vinegar
Water (enough to cover ham hocks by several inches)
1 pkg. or 1 piece of smoked ham hocks (this time I used smoked ham shank because my store was out of the hocks either way doesn't matter)
1 lb. of bacon
Directions:
Add water to your stock pot
Remove your smoked ham hock from it's packaging (the picture shown above is actual a smoke ham shank)
Place your ham hock in your pot of water and make sure the water is several inches above your ham hock
Cut your salt pork into bite size pieces about 1 inch in size
Add the salt pork, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper to stock pot with you water and ham hock
Turn burner to medium high, cover and boil for 1 hour, stirring occasionally
Cut your bacon into bite size pieces, about 1 inch in size
Add bacon pieces to frying pan and cook until crispy
When bacon is crispy add bacon and drippings to pot (only after the salt pork and the ham hock cooked for an hour)
Add collard green to pot, stir well, cover and continue to cook for an additional hour.
My personal preference is to cook collards until water is almost completely gone from pot or at least boiled off half in size of original amount of water (this is a personal preference you make take off burner and eat when greens are to the tenderness of your liking)
Serve and enjoy!
