Citrus Collards with Raisins

I’ve been meaning to try the recipes from Anna Lappé and Bryant Terry’s Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen for a while now, but I just didn’t get it together until this weekend. The citrus collards with raisins looked like one of the easiest “winter” recipes, so here’s a condensed version of what I did after Mrs. Beatrice came back from Whole Foods with two big bunches of collard greens:

While you’ve got three quarts of water boiling, separate the greens from the stems and then cut them into a manageable size. (I went for halves, which were a bit too large, so I’ll go smaller next time.) When the water’s boiling, put the collards in and let them cook for about 8-10 minutes. Drain them, then plunge them into a bowl of cold water immediately, and drain them again.

Then you’ve got some olive oil in a medium sauté pan on medium heat, to which you’re going to add two cloves of minced garlic. 30 seconds later, toss in the collards and the raisins from two little red SunMaid boxes, and a bit of salt. Cook for three minutes, stirring all the while. Pour in 1/3 cup of orange juice, stir for another 15 seconds, and you’re done.

This turned out really well, although as I said I’d probably cut the collards a bit smaller next time. And Mrs. Beatrice, who was dubious about the orange juice at first, wound up liking it, but we agreed that the next time we make this dish we might throw in some crumbled bacon as well.

1 February 2009 | cooking |