Sunday, March 11, 2012

MEATLOAF AND COLLARD GREENS


I've made meatloaf a lot but I've never tried to make collard greens. Today was a first and they didn't come out bad - not bad at all! Have you made meatloaf before? What do you put in yours? I put in:

Diced onion, red and green bell peppers, one egg, ketchup and/or barbeque sauce, salt, garlic power, pepper and seasoning salt. Oh, and I grate one slice of bread into it, usually the heel or end slice.



In a medium sized bowl, drop in your ground beef. I only use a pound because its just me so it makes a small meat loaf, enough for dinner and a couple of sandwiches as left-overs. Chop your onion and bell peppers. I usually use just a few slices of onion (from a large onion), and about one third each of the red and green bell peppers. Break and drop in your egg. Grate one slide of bread or you can use bread crumbs. Sprinkle in some ground pepper, garlic powder and salt. Add some ketchup or barbeque sauce or a combination of both - maybe about 1/4 cup BUT don't add all because I'm not sure if that's too much. I add my sight. You just want to add enough to get it some of the taste in the meat but you don't want to saturate it with ketchup. Oh, a little soy sauce, worcestershire sauce or A-1 Steak Sauce can be added - about 4-5 shakes of the bottle. If you use these decrease your salt.



Now here's the fun part. Mix this with your hands. You can use a fork or spoon to blend it all together but you're going to have to get your hands into it anyway when you mush it all together and form your meatloaf in the baking pan. Bake at 350 for maybe an hour. I check mine periodically. You want it to cook until the juice runs clear. Depending on the fat content of the meat you buy you may have to drain the grease a couple of times while its cooking. You don't want it to swim in the oil while its cooking.



Now, as for the greens. This was a first for me and I already made it my own. I bought the bag of collard greens at the market (only one since its just me) and a small package of sliced salt pork.



After checking out a couple of recipes and talking to my sister I washed the greens and started them to boil in a large pot. In another pot I started to boil some water and put it in about half an onion and half a cube of butter.

When the greens begin to cook, like cabbage, they shrink and end up cooking in all this water. I drain some water as it cooks so that all of my seasoning doesn't go down the drain. When the water level matches the shrunk greens and the amount of water I want with my greens, I added in the butter and onion mix from the other pan. Season with garlic power, pepper, hot sauce if you want. My sister-in-law uses vinegar. I added a little to mine too, just enough to give in an interesting zing but not enough so that I think "Oh, there's vinegar in there." Do this by only adding a little at a time.

Occasionally stir your green, check the flavor and tenderness. One recipe said over 2 hrs. It will depend on how tender you like your greens. I was done with mine after about 1-1/2 hrs.

I hope I didn't leave anything out. Will also welcome any tips or suggestions on new ways to try either portion of this recipe.