Collard Greens and Ham Hocks

Serves 10-12 or 8 to 10 Southerners

In recognition of Black History month, I decided to share the recipe for one of my favorite soul food dishes: collard greens and ham hocks. While collard greens are popular year round they are especially eaten in the South on New Year’s Day to attract money to the eater, as the bent green leaves represent folded money. Collard greens taste great no matter what kind of meat you serve them with, but they are traditionally cooked with ham hocks. And when I say cooked with, I mean they are literally cooked in the same pot so that the greens can soak up the essence of the ham hock and vice versa.

Most people have no idea which part of the pig the ham hock comes from. It’s the shinbone of the hog’s legs and the joint that connects to the ankle. While most Americans associate ham hocks with the South, it can also be found in Chinese (cooked with bok choy or Chinese cabbage) and German (in a dish called eisbein) cuisine.

You will need:

• 6 inch quart pot
• cold water
• cutting board
• knife
• one tablespoon
• one slotted spoon

Ingredients:

• 6 pounds of collard greens
• 3 pounds of ham hocks
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 1 large sweet onion
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon of pepper
• 2 tablespoons of adobo
• ½ cup of vinegar, you can use white, red wine or apple cider

The first thing you want to do is partially fill your sink with cold water and rinse the greens thoroughly. This is important because unlike other vegetables that grow straight from the ground, collard greens tend to soak up more dirt, pebbles and grit. So you need to completely submerge the greens and swish them around in the water for about two minutes. Pat your greens dry with a kitchen towel.

Once the greens are relatively dry, separate the leaves from the stems either with your hands or with a knife before placing them into the pot. After the greens are cut dice the onion and garlic about a quarter inch thick and place them in the pot with your cut greens, salt, pepper and adobo. Add enough water to the pot to completely drown your greens and add the ham hocks. Bring the pot to a simmer with a low flame for about an hour, then increase the flame and let the ingredients boil for an hour more until the greens are tender, the garlic has melted away, the water becomes thicker and the meat separates itself from the bone. About half an hour after the pot starts simmering, taste the water with a spoon to see if it needs more seasoning.

Drain the water from the pot and serve your ham hocks and collard greens with biscuits or corn bread.

My Most Recent Cake Job

With the holiday season, I've gotten so many requests for custom cakes I haven't had a whole lot of time to update this blog.

So many of my clients ask me how I can decorate a cake as beautifully as I do, so I figured I'd videotape my most recent gig, a half sheet vanilla cake for little girl's christening party.