Exploring the African Presence in Modern American Cuisine: Twice-Cooked Collard Greens

Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow; Nought may endure but Mutability.

- Percy Bysshe Shelley

I can handle change.  It's my friends' constant reminders of change that give me pause.

"You've lost your southern charm.  You're kind of abrupt... slightly aggressive... and just a little rude.  You've become a true northerner!"

"Do you remember in college when you said you would never live above the Mason-Dixon Line?"   (For the record, Baltimore is actually below the Mason-Dixon Line)

"Do you still consider yourself a southerner?" 

"What!?!?  You don't eat meat?  You've lost your southern roots!" 

Hmph! I often think of myself as a cultural ambassador for the Deep South, showcasing the hospitality, style, quirkiness, wit and culture of the region through every fiber of my being.  I defy all those trite stereotypes about southerners, and I'm hospitable and kind.  While that may be true, I'm also a changed man.

In my stretch of the rural South, we have an open-door policy and it's completely acceptable for people to stop by my parents' house unannounced (Yeah, that's not gonna happen in Baltimore.  Let's schedule a time to get together so I can plan accordingly).  Some people come to chat.  Some people ask to borrow tools.  Some people come to pick a "mess o' greens" from the garden.   See, my dad would always plant rows and rows of mustards, turnips and collards, and the garden would be like a palette, overflowing with different shades of green. We would eat 'em, preserve 'em and let church members/relatives/friends of the family pick 'em, too.  It was like a psuedo community garden and my parents were doing their small part to nourish the community.

Collard greens are a true delicacy and staple of southern cooking.  In fact, they are the official state vegetable of South Carolina.  The dark green leafy vegetable originates in the eastern Mediterranean, but it was the African slaves who popularized their consumption in America.  White plantation owners at the time considered greens to be weeds, so it was one of the few vegetables that slaves were allowed to grow and harvest.  The slaves took the greens and ham hocks--relatively humble ingredients; scraps--and slowly cooked them down with a broth.  This cooking technique resulted in the rich flavorful broth known as pot likker, and the practice of drinking the nutrient-dense pot likker is truly African in origin.  For a more detailed history of collard greens, check out the following links:

http://www.pauladeen.com/article_view/whats_in_season_collards/
http://www.meatlessmonday.com/as-american-as-collard-greens/
http://www.cutnclean.com/history-of-greens
http://www.gracelinks.org/blog/1798/real-food-right-now-and-how-to-cook-it-collard-greens

In these recipes, I make some healthy changes (hopefully, that's okay with my critics) by skipping the pork, which is loaded with salt, fat, saturated fat and cholesterol, and packing on flavor with lemon, fresh herbs, garlic, onion, and sauteed mushrooms.  The collard greens are first braised (the traditional cooking technique) in a lemony, herbal broth and then sauteed (in a pan) with mushrooms, onions, hot sauce, sugar, crushed red pepper, vinegar, salt and pepper.  They are deliciously divine and completely vegan.  Dare I say, they're the best collard greens I've ever had.

Twice-Cooked Collard Greens

Braising Method
Ingredients:

• 2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
• 1 tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tsp liquid smoke
• 1/2 tsp white wine vinegar
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 lbs collard greens (washed, stems removed and roughly chopped)
• 3 cloves garlic, whole

Directions:

Heat the vegetable broth and water in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Season with the next 11 ingredients.  Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to a simmer.  Adjust seasoning, if desired.   Add the collard greens and garlic cloves, stir to combine and cover.  Cook until greens are tender, approximately 35 to 45 minutes.  Remove garlic cloves and bay leaves.  Enjoy.

Sauteing Method
Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp honey
• 1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb baby bella mushrooms
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 lbs cooked collard greens (about 6 cups), drain the pot likker and eat like soup
• 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• Louisiana hot sauce, to taste
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Stir together lemon juice, soy sauce, honey and Worcestershire sauce.  Heat a 14- or 15-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until very hot.  Add the olive oil and saute the mushrooms for about 2 minute.  Reduce heat to medium low.  Add the garlic, butter and soy sauce mixture.   Stir to combine.   Saute, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms are golden brown and a nice sauce has formed in pan, about 3-4 additional minute.  Set aside mushrooms and reserved sauce and allow to cool.  

In the same skillet, add the collard greens and onions.  Saute until the onions are translucent, about 8-10 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and reserved sauce, sugar, vinegar, hot sauce, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to the collard greens mixture and stir to combine.  Saute for 2-3 additional minutes.  

Cook's Note: For a gourmet meal, these greens pair well with a pan-fried firm white fish, white wine and toasted French bread.  For a more casual preparation, pair them with your favorite protein, beer and cornbread.

Shrimp and Crab Gumbo with Black-Eyed Peas and Collard Greens

You should know what's being cooked in the kitchen otherwise you might eat a forbidden food.
- African Proverb

Patience is not my strongest virtue.  I'm fiercely loyal, honest, creative, resourceful, compassionate, cool as a cucumber but I'm just a little, wee bit impatient at times.  Don't judge me.  With that said, I thought I'd jumpstart my Black History Month series a week early (Translation: I honestly tried, but I just can't wait ALL the way until next week.  After all, the elders did always say don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today.): Exploring the African Presence in Modern American Cuisine, where I'll highlight the presence of foods and techniques of African origin in modern American cuisine.  First on deck is okra.

Okra is my favorite vegetable.  My family planted the heat-loving vegetable in our garden every summer and it was a staple in our household.  Historians have identified the plant's origin as Africa, and evidence suggests that African slaves brought it to the United States by way of New Orleans.  According to agricultural experts at Alabama Cooperative Extension:

Okra "can be traced to the Nile basin in Egypt where Egyptians have cultivated it for centuries, according to accounts of the crop in the thirteenth century.  Okra spread through North Africa from the Nile basin and on to the eastern Mediterranean, Asia Minor, and India, spreading to the New World from Brazil and Dutch Guiana."*   

To recap, African slaves brought okra to the United States by way of New Orleans, and one of the primary uses for okra in New Orleans is gumbo.  Gumbo combines ingredients and cultural influences from the French, Spanish, Germans, Choctaws, and West Africans.  There's reason to believe gumbo's etymology and preparation may have respectively derived from traditional West African languages and West African native dishes.   For a detailed history of this Louisiana dish, visit the Gumbo Wikipedia page.  For now, let's have some pot stirring fun and do the gumbo!  It doesn't matter if you're young or old.  I'm gonna show you how it goes.  Stir to the right, to the right, to the right, to the right.  Stir to the left, to the left, to the left, to the left.  Now mix, now mix, now mix, now mix.  Now, stir it by yourself.  Now, stir it by yourself.  Who said you couldn't do a cooking remix to the Cupid Shuffle?  Most definitely not me.

For this gumbo, I used renown chef Donald Link's recipe for Shredded Pork Gumbo with Black-Eyed Peas and made the following substitutions:

1. One pound of shrimp & 1 pound of crab substituted for 1 1/2 pounds of pulled pork.  Seafood cooks rather quickly.  Do not add the shrimp and crab until the last few minutes of cooking; otherwise, it will turn rubbery and be inedible.
2. Whole wheat flour substituted for all purpose flour
3. One container of white button mushrooms (washed, sauteed in olive oil, set aside to cool, and then chopped) substituted for 4 pieces of bacon
4. Two pounds of okra instead of the 1 1/2 pounds of okra called for in the original recipe
5. I eliminated file powder from the seasoning mix since I don't like the taste of it.  Hence, more okra to thicken and flavor the gumbo since I love the taste of okra

* http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0959/

Choose Your Own Adventure Creamed Spinach

Who said you couldn't make a healthy(er) creamed spinach by substituting butter with avocado and cow's milk with almond milk?  It definitely wasn't me...

So, I had this ginormous bag of spinach sitting in the 'frig, and I didn't want it to go bad because I absolutely HATE to waste food.  That's not kosher, green, or a good way to manage my resources, is it?  Nope.  Back to that bag of spinach -  every time I'd see it, I'd think how good it would be all creamy and silky, but do you know how much fat there is in butter and cow's milk?   Well, I do.  In the words of Sweet Brown, ain't nobody got time for that.

Then, it hit me like a rock, avocado (a healthier plant-based fat) and almond milk (also a healthier plant-based fat) might do the trick.  Some mushrooms would be nice, too.  So, I tried it and I like it.

So, they say you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him/her drink.  Well, folks, this is a choose your own adventure story.  If you like the fat in butter and cow's milk, follow Ree Drummond's recipe to the tee.  If the thought of consuming that extra fat will send you into a tizzy and ruin your day or something to that effect, make the following substitutions:

• 1 stick of butter for one avocado and about 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 2 cups of cow's milk with 2 cups of almond milk. 

The avocado and flour will clump up initially, but it will dissolve in the milk just fine.  Regardless of how your story ends, I'd suggest adding some sauteed mushrooms:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/04/creamed-spinach-to-die-for/

Yellow Squash Cornbread Dressing w/ Mushrooms and Fresh Herbs

As the song goes, "I'm just a Mississippi boy.  Still got Mississippi mud on my boots.  I'm just a Mississippi boy.  Well, I wanna go back to my roots.  Tired of the fast food.  Raised on cornbread and collard greens.  Chitlins and hog maws!  A big old pots of beans... "  Uhh, now what y'all know 'bout that?

It's that time, again!  The winter holidays are here.  While the holidays are largely a time of year to celebrate cultural traditions and enjoy our families, it's also important to maintain the utmost regard for cultural competence during the holiday season.  We can all do so simply by respecting the different faith traditions and cultures in our communities and country at large.  For a case in point, consider an acquaintance whom I witnessed wishing someone Merry Christmas and the person turned out to be Jewish.  Awkward.  As another example, I was recently at a legislative breakfast for work and one of the attendees decided to pray in the middle of his introduction.  It was not ecumenical.  Then, on two separate occasions, the absolute worst thing imaginable happened: I had to eat stuffing.

I am obviously joking about the stuffing, but cultural competence does, in fact, extend to the traditional foods that we eat.  About once a year, I tell one of my friends (from the Northeast) that I'm making cornbread dressing for Thanksgiving or Christmas and without fail, I'm met with a puzzled look.  Then, I explain to them exactly what I mean, and we get a good laugh out of the ordeal because they usually think I'm talking about salad dressing.  Bizarre!  So, I figured it's as good a time as any to revisit the stuffing vs dressing debate.  While the terms have technical meaning: stuffing the bird as opposed to dressing the bird, they are also regionalized descriptive terms: dressing (in the South) is traditionally made with cornbread and stuffing (in the North) is traditionally made with dry bread or croutons. According to Clinton Kelly from ABC's The Chew about "83% of northerners say stuffing and about half the people in the South say dressing". Over on the Food Network Blog, they state that "many southerners are die-hard dressing fans" and I fall squarely in that category.

Cornbread dressing has more of a cohesive, casserole-like consistency and there are a variety of techniques for making it.  Some cooks use only cornbread, while others use leftover biscuits, sandwich bread, crackers, or other breads that are leftover and/or frozen for later use.  I, personally, like the casserole-like consistency of dressing and the added textured of toasted bread in my dressing so that's what I use.  Then, for some protein, I usually add oysters; however, I was out of luck this year.  I went to two different grocery stores and they were both out of oysters.  So, I improvised.  Considering I've made yellow squash dressing in the past with great results, I decided to use yellow squash and a gourmet mushroom blend of baby bella, shiitake, and oyster mushrooms.  After tasting the dressing, I must say that I'm officially sold.  The dressing was absolutely scrumptious and considering that yellow squash and the gourmet mushroom blend cost about half as much as the oysters would have, I might call it a bargain.

Yellow Squash Cornbread Dressing w/ Mushrooms and Fresh Herbs 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb cornbread
• 1 loaf Italian bread (1/2 lb total), cut into 3/4-inch cubes (6 cups)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 lb gourmet mushrooms (baby bella, shiitake, and oyster)
• 1 large red onion, finely chopped (2 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups chopped celery
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh thyme (or 1 tbsp dried thyme, crumbled)
• 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh sage (or 2 tsp dried sage, crumbled)
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 4 yellow squash, washed and sliced into 1/4" rounds
• 2/3 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted
• 2 1/4 cups vegetable stock 

Directions:

Prepare cornbread batter and bake until fully cooked and golden brown.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 325°F. Spread bread cubes in two shallow baking pans and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of pans halfway through baking, until golden, 25 to 30 minutes total. Cool bread in pans on racks, then transfer to a large bowl. 

Heat olive oil in a 12-in heavy skillet over moderate heat.  Cook mushrooms, celery, onions, thyme, sage, garlic, salt, and pepper, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened, about 8 to 10 minutes. While the vegetables are cooking, steam or blanch the yellow squash rounds until just soft, about 4 to 6 minutes.  Set aside.

Transfer cornbread and bread cubes to a large bowl and crumble to the desired texture.  I prefer to crumble the cornbread and some of the bread cubes (about 1/3) into small pieces and leave the remaining bread cubes intact.  Add the vegetable mixture and yellow squash to the bowl, then stir in parsley and butter.  Drizzle with stock, then season with salt and pepper and toss well. 

Transfer stuffing to a buttered casserole baking dish.  Bake, covered, in middle of oven for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake until browned, about 30 minutes more.