Monday, July 14, 2008

Mmm-Mmm Collards...and beets...and spinach



I know, I know. This will now be my third posting about some kind of greens in the last month. I just can't help it, I love eating them and they love being in my tummy. It's a mutually beneficial situation.

Yesterday I decided that I was going to use a ham bone I had leftover in the freezer and boil a nice big pot of greens with it. I'd never done this before, but I was pretty confident all would go well. And my god, did it ever. As I was tasting them right before serving I think I had a little mouth orgasm. Oh yeah, that's right. They're that friggin' good. If you have a ham bone, make these.

If you don't, go sweet talk a nice lookin' pig. Seriously, make these.

Ham and Greens

Serves 4 (or two greedy people like me)

1 ham bone, with a good portion of ham still on the bone
3 lbs. greens, I used collard, beet greens, and spinach - all frozen
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper

1. In a 6-8 quart soup pot run water until it just covers the ham bone.

2. Heat over medium until it boils, keep at a steady boil until you notice the meat's starting to fall off - about 1 hour

3. Carefully remove ham bone from water and pull all the meat off the bone, if it won't come off easily return the bone to the pot and boil a few minutes longer.

4. Return the meat to the pot, discard the bone. Pour all the greens into the pot with the ham.

5. Maintain medium to medium-low heat to keep at a steady boil for about three hours to boil down. Do not attempt to shorten by removing the water, the point is to maintain the flavors in the water and concentrate them by boiling down. Season to taste with salt and pepper, but go easy on the salt.

6. When water has reduced to below the level of greens, stir in sour cream and heavy cream.

7. Serve. Also good as leftovers.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

This recipe is so good; I wish I could hug you right now. I followed the directions to the T and it was perfect! Thank you!

Carolzonie said...

mmm, my sister won't shut up about the collard greens she makes all the time. I only make fried spinach, which is yummy, so this sounds super good! I just happen to have a left over company luncheon Ham Bone I need to use today, so glad I found this, CANNOT WAIT!!!!

morchella said...

Sounds like a perfect way to use that bone. We be having that this week for certain.

morchella said...

Sounds like a perfect way to use that bone. We be having that this week for certain.

Anonymous said...

This was a nice way to use up a big Easter ham hock and meat. I made a couple of successful changes, First, I cooked down the meat for about 1.5hours. Then I added 3lbs of fresh swiss chard (just used the leaves and be sure to cut away from the bitter red stem). Cooked another 1.5hrs or until water was below veggie line but still moist, then added creams, a big dash of nutmeg, black pepper and about 1t of dried thyme. Served the mixture over farfalle pasta.

bekah said...

So I made these greens tonight. I ended up using 3 bunches of collard greens, 1 bunch of Kale and 1 bunch of spinach...all fresh........The rest of the directions i followed exactly. Before i added the sour cream and heavy whipping cream i took a nice big spoonful out and placed in a bowl for me to munch on....omgosh so yum. add a bit of butter and salt....then i added the sour cream and heavy whipping cream and yum....i love this recipe with and without the creams........Thank You for this recipe. this is the first time i have ever made Greens and i almost ate the whole pot to myself tonight once it was done...i had to put it away...YUM-O!