Pot likker

I had a miserable day on Monday, but my CSA share turned it all around.

There were a couple of things I'd never tried to cook before: lamb's quarters, borage and collard greens.

I told you last night about the lamb's quarters. They're phenomenal hot or cold, and I loved them even as a late night snack.

The collards were a bit more complicated than the wild greens. They required more cooking time, for one thing.

I washed the giant leaves, broke the stems off at the base of the leaves, stacked them, rolled them, and cut the rolled leaves into one inch strips across the stem. Backing up a bit...I sweated a finely sliced onion and a clove of elephant garlic, then tossed in the sliced collard greens. Once the greens were in the pot, I topped them off with 3 cups of water, 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar a pinch of hot pepper flakes, a couple of tablespoons of tamari sauce, a couple of healthy dashes of cumin, brought the whole thing to the boil, covered it and reduced it to simmer for the next 45 minutes.

I think it would've worked just as well with 1.5 cups of water. I just forgot to halve it for the recipe I was loosely following.

I cooked up a pot of stone ground grits to go with the Southern fare on my stove, and stirred some nutritional yeast and coarse ground pepper into it.

Pretty sure all of my relatives rolled over in their stuffed cabbage and pickle Eastern European fare graves when I took a bite, and then second helpings, but let me tell you something here and now. I may never have eaten grits growing up (except occasionally at the Waffle House), and definitely couldn't find collards on any kosher-style plate I came across growing up in Knoxville (meaning I didn't taste them until I was an adult).

The food I made last night couldn't be found in my antique cookbooks. They list kale as a food you cook when you can't afford anything else.

I'll admit here and now. I am on a fairly tight budget, but I find these greens to be some of the best food I've ever eaten. I feel better when I eat it. I find satisfaction in my meal, but also in the joy I gain knowing that I've purchased this food from a farmer I know. I've seen his fields, picked cabbages and radishes from them, eaten fresh persimmons from the side of the dirt road running up one of his hills, spied his cows, eaten at his table and learned about fermentation at a workshop at one of the houses near one of his barns.

If you've ever prepared a meal with me, you know that it is a process. There is determining the main ingredients, finding recipes in my cookbook collection, making sure we have everything else we need in the house, occasionally a run to the store for the rest of what we need, and at least 2-3 hours of preparation and cooking time.

Food in my house is an experience, something to prepare with love and devotion. Something to be enjoyed, planned out and experimented with. Food in my house is about satisfaction of the process as well as the meal itself. Thank goodness, since I usually make enough for a family of eight.

Can't wait to see what I get to experiment with next week!