Friday's Fixin's: Sautéed Collard Greens

Please don’t stop reading after you see the title, “Sautéed Collard Greens.” Heaven knows I might have. I’ve always turned my nose up at braised collard greens because every experience that I have ever had with them has been awful! But wait!  Stay with me because this recipe will ROCK.YOUR.WORLD. I’m telling you that this recipe had me at the first bite. I literally did a face plant in my plate and then went back to the skillet where I picked and picked until nary a speck was left. You seriously can’t believe how great this recipe is.  AND the Silver Lining is that there are TONS of health benefits. Please give it a try and I can pretty much promise you that you won’t be disappointed!!!

Sautéed Collard Greens

Chef Maili Brocke

Serving for 2 (or 1 if you’re sitting at a table with moi!)

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch collard greens
• 2 tablespoons hot sauce (Maili introduced me to Louisana’s pure crystal hot sauce and it’s Ahhhhhh-mazing!)
• 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons grape seed oil
• ¼ teaspoon of salt

Instructions

1. Combine, hot sauce, rice wine vinegar and sugar in a separate bowl.
2. Chop collard greens into (about!) 1” pieces
3. In the biggest skillet you have, heat the grapeseed oil on high heat.
4. Add the collard greens and salt. You want it to be hot enough to hear it sizzle.
5. Stir occasionally until it becomes crispy and brown.
6. Pour the hot sauce mixture on top and stir.
7. Devour…I mean, serve and enjoy (!) immediately.

As an aside, Maili, my meat-eating friend, prefers to make this with bacon. She generously made this without any pig products and exclaimed, “This is really great without the bacon!”

Here are some Silver Lining health benefits of Collard Greens:

• Collard leaves are very low in calories and contain no cholesterol.
• Leafy green vegetables, like collard greens, provide a significant amount of dietary iron.
• They contain a good amount of soluble and insoluble dietary fiber that help control LDL cholesterol levels and offer protection against hemorrhoids, constipation as well as colon cancer diseases.
• Collard greens contribute an important non-dairy source of calcium that’s absorbed almost as well as the calcium found in dairy products, a great Silver Lining for vegans!
• Collard greens are rich in invaluable sources of phyto-nutrients with potent anti-cancer properties, such as di-indolyl-methane (DIM) and sulforaphane that have proven benefits against prostate, breast, cervical, colon, ovarian cancers by virtue of their cancer-cell growth inhibition and cytotoxic effects on cancer cells. Nice Silver Lining as well, right?
• Fresh collard leaves are also rich in vitamin-C, a powerful natural anti-oxidant that offers protection against free radical injury and flu-like viral infections.
• Collard greens are an excellent source of vitamin-A and carotenoid anti-oxidants. These compounds are scientifically found to have antioxidant properties. Vitamin A also required maintaining healthy mucus membranes and skin and is also essential for healthy vision.
• This leafy vegetable contains amazingly high levels of vitamin-K, a vitamin that has a potential role in the increase of bone mass by promoting osteotrophic activity in the bone.
• Collards are rich in many vital B-complex groups of minerals such as niacin (vitamin B-3), pantothenic acid (vitamin B-5), pyridoxine (vitamin B-6) and riboflavin.
• Further, the leaves and stems are good in minerals like iron, calcium, copper, manganese, selenium and zinc.

To read more from Maili, please see her blog Maili Files. 

Thank you to Blue Caleel for taking these enticing photos!

Maili and me cracking up – as we usually do!