My CSA box last week contained a wide variety of greens: spinach, bordeaux spinach, herbs, kale and collard greens. Collards, a member of the cabbage family and intensely popular in the south, are not a vegetable I’d knowingly encountered before. Apparently Iowa is not suited for growing collards, even though they are a cold tolerant veggie. (Twenty below is unlikely to suit any vegetable…)
The first step in solving a problem is admitting that you have one. I was totally ignorant on how to cook collard greens. I was a bit scared and not sure if I’d like them. All the recipes I was locating on the net were calling for cooking the collards with ham or bacon. Since I wasn’t willing to do this, I asked my culinary lifeline…MOM! Even though she’s not a southerner (unless southern California counts) Mom was able to tell me that you can cook collards just like spinach.
Empowered, I washed and cut the shload of collard greens I received. I recently cooked up some swiss chard, so I decided to do the collards a similar way. I sauteed onion and garlic in a mixture of butter and olive oil, salted, and added the chopped collards. It was actually looking pretty good, but as I plated up the green goodness it needed something more. In a flash of brilliance (see how quickly I progress) I sprinkled shredded parmesan on top, then finished it off with some chopped walnuts.
It was so yummy! I became a fan of collard greens today. Who would have thought? Maybe there is a southern lady in me. Now all that’s missin’ is some black eyed peas!
kitchenkungfu.net 
Now, I did mention it would be good to top the greens with some cheese – ask Bob – everythings better with cheese on it. Looks so good – will have to get some soon. \o/\o/
And I forgot to mention that I squirted some lemon juice on them, too. I think that made a big difference. I agree with Bob on the cheese thing.
Those look really good! They are a far prettier green than the collards I’ve seen that get cooked to death.
How long did you cook them?
Not very long – about the same time frame as the chard I did, maybe ten minutes or so. They were still a little crisp on the center stalks and not overly wilty.
Yummmmmmmmmmmm, I love collards! I bet they were fantastic cooked that way, too. I want to try it tonight!