I generally try to keep my greens healthy, but hey it’s the holidays. Instead of smoked turkey or turkey bacon, I’m going to use salt pork. This is my version of soulful greens!

Ingredients:

4 bunches of fresh greens. I chose two stalks of Kale greens and two stalks of Collard greens

 

1 package of cured salt pork

4-6 cups of water

1 bouillon cube or bouillon mixture of your choice.

1 small yellow onion diced

4 garlic cloves roughly minced

1/4 of a red bell pepper chopped

1/4 of a yellow bell pepper chopped

Seasonings:

Mrs. Dash No-Salt Seasoning

Fresh Ground Black Pepper

Mrs. Sylvia’s No- Salt Secret Seasoning

Liquid smoke (1 tablespoon)

3 Jamaican Allspice balls

3 to 4 Pepperoncini (Optional)

Basalmic vinegar (Add to taste)

2 tablespoons of butter

Seasoning salt or Slap Ya Mama seasoning

Frank’s Red Hot Sauce (Serve with greens)

Preparation:

Salt Pork:

Boil the salt pork to get some of the salt out or it will be too salty. Pat the boiled pork off and dice up the pork.

Fry up the diced pork, remove it and saute the bell peppers, onion, and garlic in the pork fat. Sorry, I couldn’t take pictures. Hot grease kept popping on me. I rarely fry food so it was an ordeal.

Kale and Collard Greens:

Your greens must be cleaned and cleaned well. I found a grasshopper in a can of cooked greens. I’ve also been served homemade grainy greens. You know the ones with dirt in them.

I use vinegar and water and wash the greens in batches.  The first wash I let the greens sit in the vinegar and water solution for ten minutes. I use a large bowl. The dirt should fall to the bottom, so I take the greens out and put them in another big container and then dump the dirty water out of the first bowl and give it a quick wash. I put the greens back in the clean bowl and repeat this process until the water runs clear for each batch of my greens. By this time, I’m usually annoyed that I didn’t buy the pre-washed and pre-cut greens. I feel comfortable giving them two really good washes.

 

It’s up to you whether you want to leave the stems on or cut them off.  Just fold the leaf over and slice off the stem. Then roll the leaf up and slice it.

I’m aggressive and have very little patience. So I rip the stems out of the leaf and then tear the leaf. I’m just that type of gal.

Add the greens to the pot with your bacon, veggies, and garlic. Add the seasonings, vinegar, butter, and water. Don’t add the bouillon cube or salt seasoning until you do a taste test. The salt pork is very very salty. Put the lid on and let those bad boys simma’ for at least four hours.

I really don’t have a time limit. I will leave the pot on the stove extremely low for hours while doing taste tests. I decided to add a bouillion cube, and then later I added a little bit of seasoning salt and Slap Ya Mama seasoning. I’m very careful with salt because more can be added at the table.

I add tomatoes and drizzle Frank’s Red Hot Sauce on my greens when I serve them. Yummy. I could taste the butter, vinegar, and other seasonings. There’s also a delicious pot liquor for those who like to sop it up with cornbread.

I know you will love these greens. If you try them, let me know.

Stay blessed,

Barbie