Dark Days: Collard Greens Casserole
Happy 2012! Feels like forever since I’ve been here, no? I can’t believe it’s a new year again and I’m not used to typing/writing January xx, 2012 yet, but I guess I’ll come around to it sooner or later. I hope everyone’s holidays were spectacular and I’ll be catching up on my blog reading/commenting very very soon.
While I may be a few days late on the jam, nothing rings in the new year like collard greens and cornbread–so why not combine the two? I obviously didn’t come up with the idea (I first saw the concept over on The Kitchn) and it feels like a cheater recipe since I just took two recipes already on here and combined them, but, hey, it was tasty and it went amazingly well with some black eyed peas. Health & wealth all around! The collards came from Franklin County and the corn meal was milled up the way, so it’s a fairly local dish for me, and one that’s easy to adapt to whatever greens you have on hand–kale, spinach, mustard, turnip, what have you. Win-win all around for sure!
Collard Greens Casserole
1 recipe Good Ol’ Southern Collard Greens
1/2 recipe Cornbread batter (not baked yet)
Preheat the oven to 375 F.
Pour your collards into a baking dish. Spread the cornbread batter on top.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the top is golden and an inserted knife/pick comes out clean.
Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Serves 8
This sounds so great! Still loving this Dark Days series. I know collards are traditional on New Years, do you know why cornbread is?
Ooh, that is a good idea. Crispy corn crust and dark damp greens? Yes plx!
This is so going on tonight’s table! Thanks Jes!
What a great idea to combine collards and cornbread like this! My parents used to soak cornbread in the collards (or turnip greens) cooking juice and eat it with a spoon. They always called the liquid “pot liquor.” I love both collards and cornbread, but never quite warmed to the pot liquor idea.
What an excellent idea! I have a pile of collard greens I need to use and have been trying to think of something creative to do with them…..going to be trying this out very soon! Thanks!
I really like to do that with chilli. Good, heartening food for the cold.
Jes – that looks amazing. I will try this one with some of my chard or kale (or collards from my neighbor!). I also like David’s idea with chili too.
Looks absolutely delicious! Love casseroles ;)) Just found your blog and love it!
This looks great – love love all dark greens. Just sourced local cornmeal yesterday and cannot wait to use it!
I was just thinking that topping looks like cornbread when I first saw the photo. What a great idea to combine the two! It looks so yummy! Happy 2012!
Simple, elegant and I’m sure delicious. This is getting me thinking about all sorts of fun stuff to do. Need to go buy some individual casserole dishes!
This looks excellent as always! I hate to admit it but collards challenge me and I was loathing my farm share last year because they had collards every week..but..this recipe could change that. I also loved the Vegan Yum Yum tofu and collards recipe..sooo good!
Collard greens are one of those ingredients that I’ve really been pushing myself to make more often. I always love the way they turn out, but for some reason it always takes a lot of convincing that the effort will be worthwhile when I’m beginning prep. This recipe looks like a great way to turn an average side into something truly memorable!