I’ll admit, up until this week I was unsure of my collard cooking skills. As a southern cooking staple I felt it was pretty sad I didn’t know where to begin (or end) with these healthy, leafy greens. After last night, I now know that the very best way to prepare these leafy greens is to blanch them after cutting their tender leaves into chiffonades.
Cooking the collards in this manner keeps them tender, not overcooked, and a bright green. They’re perfect for sautéing later, mixing with goat cheese or in a quesadilla.
Any southerner will tell you pork is the perfect protein to accompany collard greens. It’s why we traditionally pair our healthy collards with sweet fatty bacon or ham. Choosing to be a bit healthier, I paired my perfectly cooked collard greens with a brined bone in pork chop. Can you say yum?
Brining is the way to go for super moist and flavorful meat, particularly lean cuts of pork and chicken. Considering how easy the brining process is I’m surprised people don’t do it more often. A simple mixture of salt, sugar and water can improve the texture and taste of so many proteins!
For you science nerds out there who like to know the “how” behind the “how delicious,” here is an explanation of how brining works, courtesy of The Cooks Illustrated:
Here’s a picture of my meal last night (Brined bone in pork chop, blanched collards, roasted golden beets and an Asian inspired mango sauce):
- vegetable oil
- 3 honey mangoes, puréed
- 1 1/2 tblsp brown sugar
- 3/4 cup low sodium chicken broth or water
- 2 tblsp soy sauce
- 1-2 tsp garlic powder
1. Sauté shallot until soft (~3 minutes), add water and soy sauce.
2. Add brown sugar. Let simmer and reduce a little (~3 minutes)
3. Add mango purée
4. Add garlic powder to taste.
This sauce is super simple, but the flavor is unexpectedly great. The sweet mango, soy sauce's saltiness, and garlic's spice together are great with the pork.
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