Greens

Tonight I made Dave Tallent's collard greens for dinner. One curious thing that has been happening to me since Dad died is that I find myself spending a lot more time thinking about food, wanting to cook more, and caring more about what I make. I'm not even hungry, most of the time, but I want to make good food. I don't expect this to last, necessarily, but it makes sense to me right now, while I'm just starting to figure out what it means to me--a more or less middle-aged woman--to be fatherless--to be without my particular father. Since Mom--a pretty good cook herself in her time--reacted with shock and incredulity when I suggested she make herself the oatmeal-raisin cookies she's been craving (who could possible take the time to make cookies?) and my husband is the visionary behind PeteyChow foodloaf, it is clearly going to be up to me to make myself the food I like to eat: one of a thousand ways the world has changed.

So here's the recipe, as I made it:

6 slices of bacon, chopped
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 pound collard greens & 1 pound kale, without stems
4 tbs. cider vinegar
3 tbs. sorghum
1/2 cup chicken stock

In a large pot, cook the bacon until crisp. Add onion & garlic, cooking about 5 minutes until onion is soft. Add the greens to the pot, stirring to wilt, then add vinegar, sorghum, and chicken stock; simmer, covered, for 2 1/2 hours. Add salt & pepper to taste.

They were fantastic (if you like greens!). And of course they don't make anything any better at all, except dinner.