Recipe: Citrus collards with raisins redux
Yield: 4 servings
This recipe was the seed of Vegan Soul Kitchen... a brand new classic, if you will, dedicated to my home city in the mid-South-Memphis, Tennessee.
- Coarse sea salt
- 2 large bunches collard greens, ribs removed, cut into a chiffonade, rinsed and drained (pages 4 and page 8).
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2/3 cup raisins
- 1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
In a large pot over high heat, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon salt. Add the collards and cook, -uncovered, for 8 to 10 minutes, until softened. Meanwhile, prepare a large bowl of ice water to cool the collards.
Remove the collards from the heat, drain, and plunge them into the bowl of cold -water to stop cooking and set the color of the greens. Drain by gently pressing the greens against a colander.
In a medium-size sauté pan, combine the olive oil and the garlic and raise the heat to medium. Sauté for 1 minute. Add the collards, raisins, and 1?2 teaspoon salt. Sauté for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add orange juice and cook for an additional 15 seconds. Do not overcook (collards should be bright green). Season with additional salt to taste if needed and serve immediately. (This also makes a tasty filling for quesadillas.)
Chiffonade
The chiffonade cut is used to produce very fine threads of leafy fresh herbs as well as greens and other leafy vegetables. First, remove any tough stems that would prevent the leaf from being rolled tightly (reserve them for stocks or salads). Next, stack several leaves, roll them widthwise into a tight cylinder, and slice crosswise with a sharp knife, cutting the leaves into thin strips.
About Chef Bryant Terry:
Bryant Terry is an award-winning eco-chef, food justice activist, author, and Food and Society Policy Fellow. He coauthored Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen. He lives in Oakland.
For more information, visit www.bryant-terry.com
About the book "Vegan Soul Kitchen":
Eco-chef Bryant Terry revisits his Southern roots and offers innovative, animal-free recipes inspired by African-American and Southern cooking. Terry's recipes focus on fresh, quality ingredients with an eye on local, seasonal, and sustainably grown food.
Buy the book on Amazon: Vegan Soul Kitchen
Reinterpreting popular dishes from African and Caribbean countries, as well as Terry's favorite childhood dishes, Vegan Soul Kitchen reinvents African-American and Southern cuisine. Capitalizing on the complex flavors of the tradition (minus the animal products), Terry's deliciously unique recipes include:
· Uncle Don's Double Mustard Greens and Roasted Yam Soup
· Citrus Collards with Raisins Redux
· Red-Rocket Salad with Watermelon-Basil Vinaigrette
· Black-Eyed Pea Fritters with Hot Pepper Sauce
· Cajun-Creole-Spiced Tempeh Pieces with Creamy Grits
· Open-Faced BBQ Tempeh Sandwiches with Carrot-Cayenne Slaw
· Sweet Coconut-Ginger Creamed Corn
· Maple-Roasted Yam-Ginger Pie
· Chocolate-Pecan Pudding Pie
· Coconut-Pecan Pralines
From drinks (Citrus Zest and Fresh Mint Tea, Frozen Memphis Mint Julep) to salads and slaws (Carrot-Cayenne Coleslaw, Chilled and Grilled Okra, Corn, and Heirloom Tomato Salad), and biscuits, cakes and cornbread (Johnny Blaze Cakes, Sweet Cornmeal-Coconut Butter Drop Biscuits) to cupboard staples (Hot Pepper Sauce, Rainbow Chow Chow), Vegan Soul Kitchen offers 150 recipes full of flavor and soul.
