I don’t normally make collard greens myself because they take forever. In addition to the tedious nature of taking the leaves off the ribs, they then have to sit in a stock pot for a couple hours. I definitely don’t have time for that on a weeknight, and on the weekend I tend to forget to start the process til it’s too late. Recently, however, I decided to see if I could do a quick version of collards and cut the time down to about 30 minutes. I was totally winging it, but IT WORKED.
Similar to how you would normally cook collards, start by adding the greens and all of the flavor enhancers to a pot. Always start with bacon. Tons of flavor and the grease gives the collards something to cook in. I also used garlic powder, onion salt, and red pepper flakes. Cook down until the greens are super deep in color and softened. Here’s where I got a litter nervous. Since they hadn’t been stewing for hours, they were still a little bitter. That’s when I decided to add a dash or two of cream and some parmesan cheese. These collards have now become creamed collards – congratulations.
FYI: Cooking Hack – you can totally use pancetta instead of bacon. It’s sold near the deli meats in the refrigerator case at the grocery store and is already cubed so there is zero fuss.
These collards are pretty unhealthy. But they’re also really good. And [comparatively] really quick.
Peaches to Apples 