My boyfriend and I own a red-eared slider turtle. (I swear this is relevant) His/Her name is Gamera, and we feed her collard greens due to its high protein and calcium content. The problem is, Gamer never goes through a bag of collard greens quickly enough.
So, this time when I bought collard greens, I decided I was going to cook a batch for us humans and leave just a bit raw for Gamera. I’ve never cook collard greens, however, so this was quite an adventure for me. I started by researching recipes and came across this one: http://divascancook.com/2009/10/southern-collard-greens-recipe-w-smoked-turkey-legs-soulfood-style.html
Besides loving the name “Divas can Cook,” the recipe sounded delicious.
I practically followed the recipe exactly, except I used vegetable stock instead of chicken stock and smoked chicken rather than smoked turkey. And, the author of the recipe isn’t joking, you do not need any salt or any other seasoning besides the red pepper flakes. It turned out so full of flavor, salty, spicy, and juicy with just those few simple ingredients.
As my main dish, I decided to keep up with the southern vibe and make black-eyed creole rice.
Because I couldn’t find canned black-eyed peas, I had to make them the old fashioned way, which took forever.
First you have to soak the beans, then cook them. The whole process took about 3 hours or more. When I cooked my beans, I didn’t use ham or any flavoring like most recipes suggested. I just used water and a bit of garlic and onion powder. Since I was planning to throw them in flavorful creole rice, I didn’t feel they needed to be cooked in ham.
For the creole rice:
Cook shrimp, onion, green bell pepper, and eggplant in a skillet (I used cast iron) until the shrimp is cooked through.
Throw in a can of diced tomatoes (sauce and all), your cooked black-eyed peas, and cooked white rice (about a cup).
Season the rice with salt and creole (or cajun) seasoning.
To keep it moist, I put about a half-cup of vegetable broth in the mixture and let it simmer on low for about 5 minutes.
Honolulu RED 