Stuffed Collard Leaves with Savory Pork Filling

It turns out that a name is not just a name when you’re writing a blog. My poetry group used to tell me that about poem titles too (“Kristin, you can’t just call them all ‘Untitled!'”), but I think the reasoning was different. With a food blog, you need a descriptive title so that someone searching for a recipe will find yours if it fits their Google search.

But how do you decide which details are important? In this case, I hope the title at least touches your tastebuds with how delicious greens are with pork. But the name can’t be long enough to share the spark provided by a touch of tomato, the suavity of the light wine broth, the smoky richness of the bacon-enhanced filling.

This recipe is based on one for cabbage rolls from James Peterson’s Vegetables. I had made them before and been impressed, but cabbage rolls are a little pesky to make*: You have to carefully remove the cabbage leaves from the head without too much tearing, and then parboil them so they’re flexible enough to roll around the filling.

Last week I had a bunch of collards in the refrigerator. I wanted to make a main dish from them, and suddenly remembered this splendid filling. Why not give it a try? I thought. Collards love pork, as demonstrated by the Southern-style braise with bacon and onions that is my usual way with them. And the leaves are so large and pliable.

They turned out to be as easy to work with as I had hoped – all you have to do is cut out the rib, leaving you with two beautiful half leaves that roll as easily as cloth napkins. Filling and rolling is inherently a little fiddly, but it’s worth it for these meltingly tender, beautiful mouthfuls.

Stuffed Collard Leaves with Savory Pork Filling

2 slices white bread

1/4 cup milk

1 medium onion

2 medium carrots

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cloves garlic
5 to 10 juniper berries, if you have them on hand
1 pound ground pork
1/4 pound bacon (about 4 slices), diced
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup cooked lentils, brown rice, or other whole grain, optional
1/4 cup chopped parsley, optional
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
1 bunch collard greens, washed well
Cooking spray
3/4 cup dry white wine
1.5 tablespoons Calvados or brandy, optional

Tear the bread into pieces, removing most of the crust. Place in a small bowl; pour milk over and set aside.

Chop the onion and carrot fairly small. Heat a skillet over medium heat and saute the onion and carrot in olive oil until very soft and just staring to brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste; remove from heat and allow to cool.

While the vegetables are cooking, finely chop (or press) the garlic. Crush the juniper berries with the side of a knife and chop very fine. Work the bread pieces into a mush with your fingers or a fork. Use a fork to gently stir all of these into the raw ground pork, along with the bacon, egg, lentils or whole grain (if using), parsley, salt, and pepper. Try not to overwork the meat mixture or it may get tough.

Heat oven to 350.

Lay each collard leaf on a cutting board. Slice down both sides of the thick center rib to create two large leaf halves. Discard ribs.

To assemble and bake, lightly spray a large casserole dish or lasagna pan with cooking spray. Lay each collard half out on the cutting board and place one or two tablespoons of filling (depending on the size of your leaves) near one end of the leaf. Roll up (no fancy folding in of ends is necessary) and place in the baking dish. Continue until you run out of either leaves or filling.

Top the rolled collard leaves with the onion-carrot mixture, then pour wine and Calvados (if using) over. Top with a lid or a piece of aluminum foil, place in heated oven, and bake for one hour. Serve in shallow bowls with some of the wine sauce spooned over.

*Note: My friend Mia suggests that cabbage rolls are easier to make if you freeze and thaw the head of lettuce before using, to wilt the leaves. Let me know if you try this!

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