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Make Kevin Gillespie’s collard greens recipe for a good new year
Superstition dictates that for a new year filled with luck, one should eat certain foods 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; the Decatur eatery has iron skillet cornbread (gold), Riverview Farms roasted pork loin (prosperity) and hickory smoked local collard greens (paper money) on its menu if you want to let someone else do the cooking.
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.
