Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Southern Dinner

I received my camera back in the mail today after being repaired under warranty! This is a meal that I wanted to share which was stored in the memory. Although I am not from the South, I consider this to be Southern country cooking. The main dish is Collard Greens with Bacon and it is as delicious as it is nutritious! Meg and I could live on collard greens- they are that good. I buy the large bag from the produce section that has them already washed and cut.
First, I fry a pound of  bacon and  remove from the pan all but a small amount of bacon grease in the bottom.After rinsing the greens, I pile them into that  large skillet and add 4 cups of HOT water, salt,pepper (or Montreal Steak Seasoning) and about 2 or 3 Tablespoons of sugar. I cover them and cook on med for about 45 minutes to an hour until tender.They cook down like spinach does.
While the collards cook, I add the cooked and crumbled bacon in with them for seasoning. Most of the water evaporates off, but I serve this with a slotted spoon and store any leftover greens in the fridge in the juice. Sometimes this is a side dish but on this particular night it was the main dish.
On the side was corn bread and real butter! This is always good! For fun, I added a can of corn to the batter and it turned out fine.
I also served this quick and easy side of Tropical Fruit which is delightful. The fruit is crunchy, sweet and sour.

A summer staple is Iced Tea. To make a gallon, we boil two to three cups of water in a saucepan and drop in 6 teabags to brew for at least ten minutes. If time allows, I'll repeat this process with the same 6 teabags and more water. The concentrate is then added to a gallon pitcher with one cup of sugar. Cold water is added to fill the pitcher and it is refrigerated. It certainly is refreshing when served cold or over ice! Bon Appetit or should I say " Y'all come and git yer dinner now, Ya hear !"