Spiced Stewed Collards

A very versatile vegetable, collards are traditionally matched with fatty piggy pieces but any fat will do, and I love them with duck. Today it’s fashionable to sauté vegetables keeping them crunchy, quasi-raw, and collards can be stir-fried, shredded into soups or even blanched and stuffed like cabbage or grape leaves. However, I love collards cooked slowly so their taste mellows and they become soft and melting.

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Ingredients: 
1 bunch collards, about 1 ½ pounds / 675 g
4 cups / 1 liter water
Sea salt
2 tbsp duck fat or lard
1 onion, halved and sliced
A piece of fresh ginger, 1 by ½-inch / 2.5 by 1cm, peeled and finely diced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
A good pinch of ground allspice
Freshly ground black pepper
Preparation: 

Wash the collards very well then remove the thick stems and discard, Cut the large leaves in half lengthwise, then cut all the leaves into 1-inch / 2.5-cm slices. 

Pour the water into a large saucepan, add some salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the sliced leaves and simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes or until the collards are tender. While the collards are cooking, melt the duck fat in a frying pan over medium heat. When hot, add the onion and cook until softened and just beginning to color. Stir in the ginger, cumin and allspice.

Drain the collards partially, then transfer them to the frying pan with a little of their cooking liquid. Stir, season with salt and pepper and continue to cook until melting tender.

Servings: 
Serves 2 to 4 as a side

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