Greens grow well in the long cool summer days of Southcentral Alaska. This preparation based on a recipe from the Martha Stewart website make a collard dish that is sweet enough to get our son to eat collard greens. And it's fast enough to serve for a weeknight supper.
Collard Greens with Raisins
2 bunches of collard greens -- remove stalks, cut across the leaves to make thin strips
1 Tablespoon olive or canola oil
1/2 Cup raisins
2 teaspoons white (or red) wine vinegar
Heat oil in large skillet. Saute collard greens and raisins together until collards are tender. About 8 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in vinegar.
Variations:
When I have raspberry vinegar, I use that instead to add a depth of fruity flavor. If all I have on hand is cider vinegar, I use that. It also works with kale, but you don't have to slice kale quite so thin.
The original recipe called for sprinkling the finished dish with toasted almonds. We don't use almonds these days, but if you do then you can add 1/4 Cup of toasted slivered almonds at the end. They provide contrasting crunch plus a little protein and fat to make the dish more substantial. Slivered almonds should be nicely toasted after just 5-10 minutes on a baking sheet in an oven on relatively low heat (325 to 350). If you preheat the oven before you start slicing the collards, then you can toast the almonds while the collards are sauting and it should all be ready at about the same time.
