Atlanta Restaurants & Food
Make recipes for greens and rice from Kevin Gillespie for a lucky New Year
Savannah Red Rice from a recipe developed by Kevin Gillespie
Looking to get lucky in the new year? Superstition dictates that for luck one should eat certain foods on New Year’s Day including pork, Hoppin’ John and collard greens.
Who are we to argue, especially when the dishes are so delicious? Here, Chef Kevin Gillespie shares his restaurant Revival's recipe for collard greens, and a recipe he developed for Savannah red rice.
Savannah Red Rice
- ¾ cup smoked bacon, diced
- ¾ cup Riceland Brand Medium Grain Rice
- ¾ cup sweet onion, diced
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 ¼ cups canned tomato puree
- 1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 scallions, sliced thinly
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Heat a 4 qt heavy bottom Dutch oven over medium heat.
- Add the bacon and allow it to render until golden brown and crisp. Stir in the rice and combine it with the fat in the bottom of the pan.
- Make sure the rice grains are nicely coated and then cook for about 3 minutes. Add the onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic and cook for approximately 5 more minutes or until the vegetables have softened.
- Add the stock, thyme sprigs, salt, black pepper, hot sauce and tomato puree, and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to very low and allow the rice to cook for 25 minutes. Turn off the heat, but do not remove the lid.
- Allow the rice to sit for 15 more minutes off the heat. Remove the lid, discard the thyme sprigs, and add the lemon juice, butter, and scallions. Adjust the seasoning with more salt, black pepper, and hot sauce to taste. Serve immediately. Serves 6 as a side dish
Collard greens, cornbread and fried chicken from Revival.
Hickory-Smoked Local Collard Greens from Revival
- 1 qt. double chicken stock
- 1 large sweet onion (baseball sized)
- 1 head garlic, peeled
- 1 big pinch dried red pepper flakes
- 1 big pinch salt
- 1 big pinch ground black pepper
- 1 lb. butter, cut into small chunks
- 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- 3 bunches greens (collards, black kale, Siberian kale, mustard greens, turnip greens)
- Bring stock to just under a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Peel and slice onion very thin (use a mandolin if available). Add onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and black pepper to stock. Using an immersion blender, add butter one piece at a time. This will emulsify and look creamy. Add vinegar; taste and adjust seasoning as needed. It should seem aggressively seasoned. Pour liquid into a semi-shallow heat-proof dish (preferably metal)
- Separately, blanch and shock the greens of your choice (a blend is great). Squeeze out excess water.
- Add the greens to the liquid, really packing them in as they get smaller. The liquid should just barely cover the greens.
- Put the dish above a wood-burning grill. The grill should stay around 180°. Cook for 6 hours, stirring periodically to be sure the greens on the bottom get stirred up to the top. Cool greens in the liquid overnight (do not skip this step!). Warm up the greens and liquid to serve.
Looking for more good luck and prosperity? Try these recipes for cornbread (which represents gold) and roasted pork loin (which symbolizes prosperity).
STYLING BY DOROTHY BURLEY / CONTRIBUTED BY ADRIENNE HARRIS/SPECIAL
S&S Cafeteria's Cornbread Muffins
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil plus oil for greasing muffin tin
- 3 cups self-rising cornmeal
- 1 1/2 cups whole fat buttermilk
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 egg
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Put 1 teaspoon oil in the well of each cup of a 12-cup muffin tin. Either prepare two more tins, or bake the first batch, clean the tin and continue until all batter is used.
- In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, buttermilk and water. When thoroughly mixed, add egg and remaining 1/4 cup oil. Spoon 1/4 cup batter into each cup. Bake about 15 minutes or until done. Remove from tin and cool on a wire rack. Continue until all batter is used. Makes: 28 muffins
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per muffin: 75 calories (percent of calories from fat, 38), 2 grams protein, 10 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 3 grams fat (trace saturated fat), 8 milligrams cholesterol, 179 milligrams sodium.
Pork Loin Roast is rubbed with an herbed pepper blend.
Recipe: Roasted pork loin with pine nut stuffing
- 1 teaspoon canola oil
- 1/4 cup finely chopped yellow onion
- 1 (10-ounce)package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- 3/4 cup soft bread crumbs
- 1 (15-ounce)can pears, drained and diced
- 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 (4-pound)boneless pork loin roast, well-trimmed
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium.Add onion and cook 3 to 5 minutes or until softened.Remove from heat; stir in spinach, bread crumbs, pears, pine nuts, salt, sage, pepper and thyme.Set aside.Cut a lengthwise pocket in roast to 1/2inch of ends and uncut side.Spoon stuffing into pocket; tie securely with heavy string.Season with salt and pepper to taste. Place on rack in large roasting pan.Bake 2 hours or until internal temperature reaches 145 degrees.Remove from oven; cover and let stand 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Makes 15 servings.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per serving: 224 calories (percent calories from fat, 43), 26 grams protein, 6 grams carbohydrate, 1 gram fiber, 11 grams fat (3.3 grams saturated fat), 68 milligrams cholesterol, 107 milligrams sodium.--Susan Nicholson
RELATED:
Read more stories like this by liking Atlanta Restaurant Scene on Facebook, following @ATLDiningNews on Twitter and @ajcdining on Instagram.
