A quick blanching of large collard greens takes the easily cracked leaf and transforms it into a malleable sandwich wrap where anything goes! All I encourage you to do here is head to your local farmers market and visit a number of farmers growing these amazing greens – Annie and Kona from Kalalea Farm or Sun & Lisa with One Song Farm – then give each leaf a dunk in salted simmering water for just 1 minute. Inside your wraps can go anything from a nut or seed pate with other salad greens, a mixture of brown rice, quinoa and white beans or shredded meat and sweet potato. A nice dipping sauce is a great accompaniment. Enjoy!
Method:
- 6-8 collard greens, stem removed by slicing along the thickest part of the stem and stopping once it thins then running the knife along the other side of the stem and discarding it into the compost * I usually use 2 collars per wrap because overlapping them fills the gap where your filling would otherwise fall out.
- 2-3 cups of filling – bean or seed/nut puree, pate, shredded meat and chopped tomatoes or sweet potato – anything
- 1 cup of dipping sauce (a simple one to follow)
bring a shallow pot of water to boil, reduce the heat and add a spoonful of salt. Take your collards, all together overlapping and dunk them in the water to cover. Submerge for 1 minute or less – you want to keep the color and most of the texture. A good gauge is pulling them once their color becomes bright green and the leaves have become softer.
Drain and dab excess water off.
Take 1 (if really large) or 2 collards and overlap them. Add your filling, ~ 1/2 – 1/3 cup of filling should do. Fold sides of collard up to your filling then take the leaf end closest to you and wrap up and around your filling, rolling tightly until it’s in a small bundle. Set aside and repeat.
A simple dipping sauce, mix all together:
- 2 Tbsp miso paste
- 1 Tbsp dijon or stone ground mustard
- 1 Tbsp hot water
- Juice of 1 lime – adjust to taste
- 1 Tbsp Tamari
- dash of hot sauce (optional)
