Collard Greens Side Dish

Collard Greens are so distinctly southern and possibly my favorite cooked green dish. Remarkably easy to make and yet robust, flavorful and unique.  Accompanying a slow cooked pot roast, grilled pork chops, or meatloaf, collard greens are my perfect choice of vegetable side.

delvin farms collards

Collards are a tough, hearty winter growing vegetable.  Surviving many freezing nights and frost covered mornings, collards are one of the few crops we harvest in December and January.  We plant our late fall/winter crop of collards in September and harvest from early November to the end of January.

For our recipe, start with freshly harvested greens picked up at your local farmers market or out of your CSA box.  De-stem the greens.  Collards have a very tough, thick center stem. An easy way to prepare is to strip the leaves off by holding upside down and running two fingers along this center, ripping as you go.  de-stemmed collards

Layer the stripped leaves on a cutting board and chop into 1″ pieces.

collard greens choppedIngredients:
1 bunch of de-stemmed, coarsely chopped collard greens
2 cups chicken broth
1 small onion, diced
smoking meat. my favorite is the smoked jowl but equally good is a thick smoked bacon or smoked belly meat, if you can find it.
salt and pepper to taste
red pepper flakes (optional)
olive oil

collard greens delvin farmsHeat the oil in the stock pot and sauté the onions until translucent and soft. Add the collards, broth, smoking meat. Cook on low heat 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Collards will turn a darker green and become tender. The smoked flavor of the meat along with its juices will coat all the greens in a smokey, rich goodness.

Serve hot and enjoy.

cooked collard greens

Delvin Farms Delivers Winter CSA

Summer is over but our winter CSA program still delivers fresh organic, farm vegetables.  For the two months of November and December we shift from summer crops to traditional hearty vegetable crops that we all associate with the holidays and shorter days of winter.  Certain types of crops excel in cooler weather and cold nighttime temperatures and these become the focus of the winter growing season for us.  Green curly kales, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, arugula, cabbage, lettuce, and tatsoi seem to crave the lower tempeorganic cabbage delvin farmsratures and double in size in a short period.  Gone are the worries of weeding and watering as the frost takes care of most weeds and frequent rains keeps the plants hydrated and growing.

 

Our 15 acres of sweet potatoes and butternut squashes are harvested and stored in our packing shed.  As they cure and dry out after the harvest, the starches turn to simple sugars creating a sweeter, more complex flavor that these vegetables are know for.  These stored vegetables are good for months and will be featured in our CSA and farmers markets throughout the upcoming holiday season.
sweet potato harvest
Our winter CSA is harvested in four pickups over the months of November and December.  Each 1/2 bushel of organic vegetables are harvested fresh from the fields or in the case of sweet potatoes and winter squashes from our stores of fall harvest.

 

Fall and winter favorites that are included in our CSA boxes include: sweet potatoes, butternut, green kale, collards, lacinato kale, tatsoi, arugula, turnips, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cheddar cauliflower, white cauliflower, red and green cabbage, lettuce, and brussel sprouts.

Our first winter CSA share saw the last of the tomatoes, peppers and green beans. Organic sweet potatoes, butternut, kales, radish and cabbage filled the remainder of the box.

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Autumn Lentil Potato Soup

November can’t be official until a hearty soup is simmering in a crock pot all day long on a Sunday. Inspired by quirky fingerling potatoes from Delvin Farms & a multi-lentil “autumn” blend from Whole Foods, I quickly threw together the ingredients and have been enjoying the rest of my day not in the kitchen.
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Fingerling potatoes are a great source of vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber. I left the skin on for taste, texture, and Vitamin-C (a much needed vitamin in gloomy-autumn). Delvin Farms grows organically, so when tossing all of these raw ingredients into my crock pot, I can rest assured I’m not simmering anything but true goodness!

INGREDIENTS:
+ 1/2 small yellow onion, diced
+ 2 garlic cloves, minced
+ 2 1/2 cups fingerling potatoes, sliced into coins
+ 1 turnip, cubed
+ 1 fresh rosemary sprig, finely chopped
+ 3-5 fresh thyme sprigs, finely chopped
+ 1-2 celery stalks, diced
+ 1 cup autumn blend lentils (or a variety of lentils: French Green, Petite Crimson, Golden, Black Beluga, Spaish Pardina, and Ivory White).
+ 6 cups vegetable stock
+ Salt, pepper and/or all purpose spice
+ 1 tbs olive oil
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METHOD:
Salute the diced onion and minced garlic in a small skillet with olive oil. Place in a crock pot, turned on “High” and add ALL additional ingredients, diced/chopped/cubed! Go enjoy your day and come back to eat in 5-6 hours!

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— Amanda Barnhart is an art director, food enthusiast, and cat lover. She curates & photographs new recipes weekly on her vegetarian food blog, PlatedColor.com. You can see more photos and read about this recipe there.