Sweet and Sour Collards with Petite Sirah

The sweet here comes from the combination of the onions, bacon fat, and the wine, and the sour from the red wine vinegar. Slow cooking is a key part of this.

INGREDIENTS:

1 bunch collards, stems discarded, leaves stacked, rolled, and cut into ½-inch ribbons, then cut across once or twice

2 large spring onions, lower portions only, halved lengthwise then sliced diagonally into 3-inch strips, or use one medium-small red onion Lyonnaise cut 1/8^th-inch wide

2 thick-cut sweet and smoky bacon strips (hickory or alder wood work well), cut into ¼-inch wide batons

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon fresh oregano

½ cup good quality Petite Sirah (I used Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard’s ’11 “Durif” Shephard’s vineyard)

2 tablespoons good quality red wine vinegar, or as needed

Black pepper and a touch of flaky salt

Olive oil as needed

METHOD:

Heat a 10-inch/3 quart sauteuse or frying pan over medium heat. Add the bacon and spread out over the floor of the pan. Cook, stirring and turning so the bacon cooks all over, and does not burn. When the bacon is crisp and well colored, remove with a slotted spoon, keeping the oil in the pan.

Remove the oil, saving it, until only a generous tablespoon remains in the pan. Add a few drops of olive oil to the fat. When it is hot, add the onions to the pan and toss to coat. Cook slowly so the onions do not burn and they become quite soft. Add the garlic and stir around. If the situation warrants it, add a little bacon fat and a touch of olive oil. Cook until the garlic is soft and fragrant. Scatter the herbs onto the alliums, and stir in.

Add half the wine and slowly cook down, stirring, so the alliums take on a bit of jammish-ness. Push all the vegetables to the edge of the pan further away from you. Add a little more fat and some olive oil and heat it through. Add half the collards, then tong up the “allium jam” and scatter over the greens. Top with the rest of the greens.  Drizzle with a touch of oil and slowly cook for a couple minutes. Tong the mess over on itself and add the rest of the wine. Cook down until liquid is reduced by 80%. Stir greens around and season with lashings of pepper. Drizzle with the vinegar over the whole mess, scatter with the reserved bacon and stir around. Cook to heat the bacon and reduce any liquid to almost nil.

Serve hot.

Serves: 4

Source: Chef Andrew E Cohen