Recipes by The Dinner Belle

We have a local Greek restaurant that has the best Greek potatoes EVER. I have become kind of obsessed with them, lately, and at the risk of going broke and ordering them once a week, I figured I should learn how to make some myself. After doing some research, I came across a recipe by Ms. Martha Stewart that seemed like it would be good and wouldn’t take 25 years to make. For whatever reason, all the other recipes wanted you to cook them for 2 hours, and I just don’t have that kind of time! This one takes 50 minutes and is a breeze! I have also tried a Crock-Pot variation, which is below the first recipe.

Ingredients:

• 4 large russet baking potatoes (8 medium), peeled and quartered
• 1/2 cup olive oil (yes, 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (the juice of 3 lemons sans seeds)
• 1 tablespoon dried Greek (may be called Mediterranean) oregano
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup of water

1) Heat oven to 500 degrees. Yep, I said 500. I was kinda scared, too, I’ve never turned my oven that high, but I promise it works and won’t make your potatoes burst into flames.

2) Place cut potatoes in a METAL pan in a single layer. I used a 9×13 size, and that worked perfectly.

3) Add all other ingredients on top of the potatoes and toss together until well-coated. I forgot to add the water until they’d been baking for 20 minutes because Martha’s ingredient line-up didn’t list water- it was only in the directions. They still came out fine, luckily.

4) Bake, uncovered, until fork-tender and brown on the edges. This takes about 50 minutes. Turn potatoes after about 25 minutes so they brown evenly. If at any point, your potatoes suck up all the water, go ahead and add a little more. This prevents them from sticking and scorching.

5) Eat them. This is the best part.

This is one recipe I didn’t have to tweak at all. The seasoning was absolutely perfect. I served my potatoes with some Greek chicken and fresh green beans. My Greek chicken was just chicken cutlets seasoned generously with Cavender’s Greek Seasoning. I sauteed them in olive oil over medium high heat until cooked through. This dinner rocked. Trevor loved it and was thrilled to have leftovers to take with him to work. I will definitely be adding this to our normal dinner recipe rotation!

I didn’t think about taking a picture, so I will borrow Martha’s. Mine didn’t look like this, they looked more seasoned. But they were still very pretty. And very delicious.

To make these in the Crock-Pot, I used the exact same ingredients and mixed them up in the bottom of the Crock-Pot. Then, laid a whole chicken on top (you could use boneless breasts, too) and seasoned it heavily with Cavendar’s Greek Seasoning (or you can use salt, pepper, garlic powder and more of that Greek Oregano). Then, let it go for 6 to 8 hours on low and it’s SO good!! This is what the Crock-Pot version looked like:

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With the dawn of every new year, there are some constants: fireworks, midnight kisses, watching the ball drop and heaps of collard greens. What? You don’t look forward to New Years Day JUST so that you can pile your plate with greens and eat them until you pass out?? Okay, so I guess that’s just me. Down South, we have a tradition: New Years Day= pork, blackeyed peas and collard greens. The blackeyed peas are supposed to represent luck and the greens represent money for your new year. The pork just represents pork being tasty. I look forward to this meal every year, even though it takes a bazillion hours to make because it’s amazing. I didn’t make it myself last year since I was on bed rest, but my mom did make it for me. Yay for moms!

Since it has come to my attention that there are a lot of people out there who think that they don’t like collard greens, I thought it would be fun to teach one and all how to make awesome Southern greens. I promise, if you think you don’t like them, you just haven’t eaten them cooked the RIGHT way. A lot of restaurants around here serve them, and, well, they’re not so good. It’s because they’re too bitter- they don’t know the secret: getting rid of the stalk and parboiling. My dad makes the best freaking collard greens on the planet, and he taught me how to do them, just like his mom taught him. And they’re darn good, y’all.

So here it is: get ready.

Ingredients:

Two bushels of fresh collard greens (a bushel is usually two “clumps” tied together)
8 strips of Bacon (or you can use hog jowls… don’t freak out, they’re not that scary)
Palmful of salt
Black Pepper
Garlic Powder
1/2 cube chicken bouillon

Step 1: Cut leaves off of stalks. You’ll be left with this:

2) Fill sink with water, pile leaves in sink. Swish around to wash and remove gritty dirt and sandy stuff. These are technical terms, guys.

3) Take a leaf, spread it open and lay it on your cutting board, like so.

4) Here is where the special technique comes into play. Run your knife alongside the stalk from about where I have my knife, all the way down. Do this on both sides until the stalk is cut free.

5) Remove stalk.

6) Fold collard leaf in half long-ways.

7) Roll it like you were rolling a cigar.  I have no experience in cigar-rolling, FYI.

Slice your collard cigar in one-inch strips.

9) Repeat until all greens are cut. Pile all of your pieces into a stockpot. Fill the pot with water so that you can just see the water at the top of the greens. Like in the picture below. Then, you’re going to bring it to a boil and let it go over medium-high heat for 15 minutes. This is called parboiling and is the secret to non-bitter greens. Don’t you feel privileged and special to know THE SECRET?? I thought you might.

10) The water should be green after the 15 minutes is up. Drain greens. Meanwhile, add your bacon into the same stockpot while your leaves are draining. Cook it up until it looks like this:

11) Now, dump your greens back in the pot with the bacon and grease. Don’t you dare drain that grease! It’s what makes the greens delicious. I never said these were low-fat or vegetarian, you may recall. Put fresh water into your pot, about 8 cups. Add your palmful of salt (seems like a lot, but this is a lot of water and a lot of greens), about 10 cracks of fresh black pepper, a good teaspoon of garlic powder and half a bouillon cube (optional). Bring to a boil, then cover and let simmer at a rolling boil (low to medium low heat) for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. I let mine go for 1 1/2, just taste them after 1 and see if they’re too tough.

12) Then, it’s time to EAT them! My mouth is watering, even though I’ve been eating these leftovers for two days in a row. In case you’re wondering, that’s the whole shebang: pork roast, spaetzle (not Southern, but my Grandma was from Luxembourg and we make it all the time) collard greens and blackeyed peas all smothered with pork roast gravy. I gained at least five pounds over the weekend, but that is okay.

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