Recipe: Ham Hocks With Greens
This is another terrific recommendation from Brad Farris, a Chicago small business consultant and adventurous cook. It calls for collards, but since ours were eaten down by the chickens (they must have been good -more to come in summer), we’re recommending you try them with turnip, beet or spinach greens.
Cooked Greens Recipe
Brad says: Linda Stradley of whatscookingamerica.net says, “This is a family recipe from my friend, Andra Cook of Raleigh, North Carolina.” Andra says, “It is difficult to measure weight and size for each serving. My mother-in-law, Belle Cook, says she buys a grocery bag full and can serve four with that. Collard greens are available eight months out of the year in the South. I don’t include June through September because the greens are much better after they have a ‘good hard frost.’ That’s not to say you can’t get them in the other months (June-September), but the taste is much better after the frost.”
I agree that greens are hard to measure. I usually choose about 4 bunches at the fruit market, they tend to be about 1lb each. It takes a mess o’ greens to cook down to a meal. I don’t stick to just collard greens. I love Kale and turnip greens, and I’ve found wonderful dandelion and mustard greens. Whatever looks good.
4 Bunches of Greens (roughly 4 lb)
2 ham hocks
One Onion, whole (optional)
Water
Salt to taste
Toppings (suggestions follow)
Wash greens thoroughly, approximately 3 or 4 times to ensure they are clean and free of insects. Remove large stems.
There is some debate about whether to chop your greens before cooking or after. It’s a mess to cut them after, but I think it makes a better dish. If you want to cut before, stack leaves one on top of another, roll them all up and slice from the end of the roll, half-inch strips.
Place ham hocks in an extra-large pot with enough water to completely cover them, a Dutch oven works well for this. Add salt and onion and cook ham hocks one to one and a half hours, until their falling apart and thoroughly cooked. Add greens, big leaves first (let them start boiling), then add remainder. Cook half an hour to 45 minutes, stirring once about midway to ensure thorough cooking. Test for tenderness of stems at 30 minutes by piercing with a sharp knife. Cook additional time if necessary.
Remove from heat and using a strainer basket retrieve the leaves and ham hocks, reserving the juice (pot likker). Some people prefer to use a colander for this. Chop greens, leaving no large leaves or pieces. I just put them on a board and go to town with a cleaver! Chop up any big pieces of ham hock, they are more like flavoring for the greens than they are to eat, so go ahead and cut them up small. Add some of the pot likker if the greens are too dry. Salt to taste. Serve hot or at room temperature with your choice of toppings.
Toppings:
Louisiana Hot Sauce
Vinegar
Onions and vinegar (chopped onions and vinegar mixed together)
Salsa
Fresh Tomatoes
Don’t forget to make a big cornbread and dip it in the pot likker just for extra flavor. The pot likker is full of good vitamins; it’s the best part. Since this is a large pot full, just save the extras in the refrigerator. They should keep for a long time and actually get better as the juices settle in. Those of you who are big on your slow cookers could probably cook the ham hocks in there, then transfer to a big pot (with all the water, that’s the flavor, remember?) and cook the greens.
Basic recipe along with a lot of history can be found at http://whatscookingamerica.net/Vegetables/CollardGreens.htm)
