poor hynden’s collard greens

What’s better than a big boiling pot of greens?

Rinse garden fresh collards from the co-op and roll up like you’re making Cuban cigars.

Make a cut every inch or so to make green strips, or strips of greens.

Cut up:

1-2 spring onions – from the co-op

a few garlic chives – from the co-op (supplement plain ole garlic and onions as needed)

2 pieces of high quality bacon (See below!)

Sizzle the bacon in your big old pot. Add the onion and garlic along with a wee drizzle of EVO.

Throw in some red pepper flakes. How many?  How hot do you want it?

Add coarse salt and black pepper – from the co-op.

Now add the collards and stir like it’s going out of style.

Finally add the tiniest spoon of vinegar. Probably don’t use anything flavored. (shudder.)

Now add the liquid –

I use water.  And just enough to cover.

If you want to – add a ham hock here (see meat link below!) – and the tiniest spoon of sugar.

Simmer for a good time.  Or – for a good time, simmer.

Check and add liquid as needed.  Oh, the lovely pot liquor you will have at the end!

perfect rosemary french fries

peel 1 sweet potato and 1 russet potato.

cut them into uniform French fry shapes.

fine chop a big sprig or 2 of fresh  rosemary from the co-op.

toss potatoes with a swirl to a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

season with chopped rosemary, kosher salt, and black pepper from the co-op.

Bake seasoned fries on a baking sheet at 400 degrees for 19 minutes until golden brown and barely crunchy. Mmmm…

candied tangerine peel

Dear co-op, thank you so much for the delicious tangerine orange juice I made this morning.  It made me think you might like this recipe for candied citrus peel.  It tastes like Christmas!

Boil/simmer lots of intact citrus peels for 30-45 minutes.  Longer for thick skinned citrus, less time for dainty skinned citrus.

Drain and cool cooked peels.  Scrape out insides.

Slice into 1/4 inch strips.

Make simple syrup on the stove with water, a TON of sugar (a cup? more?), and a splash of triple sec or cointreau. 

Add the peel strips to the syrup.

Cook down to a thick syrup.

Drain peel and put on greased baking sheet.

Bake at about 150 degrees til you think it’s done. (Not that long)

Cool peel on wax paper and store in fridge.

Tastes like Christmas!