Collard Green Rolls; Red Bean and Collard Greens Stew

 Collard greens are the latest thing to make a heavy appearance at the CSA. I like 'em well enough, but after a few side dishes of ribbon-cut greens sauteed with garlic I needed to try something else. Dried red beans, soaked overnight, then cooked with collards in chicken broth made a nice stew. With another batch, I made up some rice and beans and made stuffed collard green rolls. Blanched them first for pliability, then baked with crushed tomatoes for a half hour.

Pane e Pizza

Another attempt at Jim Lahey's pizza... Precooking the crust for 20 minutes and THEN adding the toppings made for a crisper pie. Since the oven was going to be cranking, I figured that I'd make my favorite of his bread recipes too... pane integrale with 1/4 whole wheat flour.

Bean and Collard Green Soup; Green Beans with Shallots and Lemon; Scape Pesto; Pane Integrale

In the hot summer months, I rarely want to heat up the kitchen with a 400 degree oven. Bread, therefore, is of the store-bought variety. Fortunately, there are a few decent options in the area. But when I decided to use up what has become a dearth of CSA-grown collard greens in a bean soup flavored with a last piece of smoked turkey leg, I figured that a homemade bread would be a needed accompaniment. Jim Lahey's no-knead technique is marvelous, provided you have the time and foresight to plan ahead. My favorite is his pane integrale, which uses a ratio including some wheat flour - not enough to make it too dense and overly "wheaty;" just the right amount to give it flavor, texture, and nutrition.