What We're Cooking This Week: Collard Melt - Willamette Week

adaapablogsi.blogspot.com

Jim Dixon wrote about food for WW for more than 20 years, but these days most of his time is spent at his olive oil-focused specialty food business Wellspent Market. Jim’s always loved to eat, and he encourages his customers to cook by sending them recipes every week through his newsletter. We’re happy to have him back creating some special dishes just for WW readers.

While the universe of sandwiches continues to expand in all directions, finding cooked greens between bread can be harder to track down than astatine (a very rare element; just Google it). Yes, broccoli rabe shows up on some vaguely Italian sandwiches, but it’s more like actual broccoli than the big leaves that I consider greens. Sure, there’s sauerkraut, but it’s fermented, not cooked.

The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina has sold its collard sandwich at the Robeson County Fair for years, and the Native American combination of braised greens and fatback between crispy cornbread hoe cakes stood alone for years. Then Mason Hereford opened Turkey and the Wolf in 2016 in New Orleans, and the James Beard Foundation named the sandwich shop the best new restaurant in America for its creative offerings, including a very tasty collard green melt.

But both the Lumbee and Hereford’s collard sandwiches are good, but they’re time-consuming, special projects. I wanted something more like the thing where you put stuff between bread for a quick meal. Since leftovers are my favorite ingredient, I looked in the refrigerator and pulled out some of the creamy collard greens with peanut butter I’d made earlier in the week.

Hereford makes his collard melt with rye, a nod to the OG patty melt, but to maintain the spontaneous aspect of the quick sandwich, I used a couple of slices of Japanese-style milk bread in the freezer left over from a run to the Asian markets on Southeast 82nd Avenue. And following the dictates of my own grilled cheese manifesto, I used both American and sharp cheddar for the cheese.

NOTE: The quantities of collards and cheese in this recipe are only suggestions since this is, after all, a sandwich.

2-3 spoonfuls leftover collard greens with peanut butter*

1 slice American cheese

1-2 thin slices sharp cheddar cheese

2 slices bread

Extra-virgin olive oil to grill

*If the greens have lots of potlikker, use a slotted spoon to scoop out the greens so the bread doesn’t get mushy.

Spread the collard greens on one slice of bread. Top with the cheeses, then the other slice of bread. Heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat, carefully place the assembled sandwich in the skillet, cover, and cook until the cheese has started to melt and the bottom slice of bread is nicely browned. Flip and cook the other side, covered, until the cheese is completely melted.

Adblock test (Why?)

"bread" - Google News
June 14, 2023 at 12:37AM
https://ift.tt/u9WBPnv

What We're Cooking This Week: Collard Melt - Willamette Week
"bread" - Google News
https://ift.tt/fYkvwPD
https://ift.tt/CJ0SafM

Bagikan Berita Ini