I had an overabundance of collard greens at my house this summer, to the point that I got tired of my usual approach of slow-cooking the greens with a ham hock.
But I still wanted to eat them, for the sake of their earthy flavor and all the vitamins that come with their dark leafy green-ness.
But I didn’t want to work too hard, and a lot of the recipes I found were just too fussy. Many called for ground pork with a long list of seasonings — sounded good, but I’ll have to leave that for a day with more hours in it.
In the end I made collard wraps that are a cross between kalua pork and laulau — without the long cooking time of kalua or all the work of laulau.
As much as I love luau leaves, a critical component of laulau, they try my patience. It’s the calcium oxalate they contain, which produces an itchy sensation in the mouth unless the leaves are well-cooked. They can even make your hands itch from handling them.
Collards require no pre-cooking; they soften in the time the pork takes to roast in the oven.
This recipe uses boneless pork country-style ribs, seasoned simply with salt and liquid smoke, just like kalua pork. The chunks of pork cook much faster than the usual roast used for kalua pork, though.
One note about the recipe: You’ll have to make adjustments depending on the size of your collard leaves. Cut your pork chunks to a size that can be rolled up in the leaves. If your leaves are small, you may have to use more than one per roll.
COLLARD GREEN PORK ‘LAU LAU’
By Betty Shimabukuro
- 9 to 12 collard green leaves
- 1-1/2 pounds boneless pork country-style ribs
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2-4 drops liquid smoke
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut collard leaves in half along their spines; discard the spines.
Cut each pork rib into 3 or 4 pieces, to fit the width of your collard leaves. Sprinkle pork with salt, then massage in liquid smoke.
To wrap pork: Place 2 collard leaf halves side by side, overlapping in the center. Place 1 pork piece at the base of the leaves. Roll up the leaves around the pork. You can tuck the sides of the leaves in, spring-roll style, or leave the sides open. Place in a baking pan, then repeat the rolling with remaining pork and leaves.
Pour water into pan, to a point halfway up the sides of your wraps. Cover pan with foil, sealing the edges. Bake about 35 to 45 minutes, until pork is cooked through and tender (sorry, you’ll have to remove the foil to check, then rewrap the pan if you need more cooking time).
Serve with juices from the pan. Serves 4.
Approximate nutritional information, per serving (not including salt to taste): 380 calories, 15 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 140 mg cholesterol, 600 mg sodium, 7 g carbohydrate, 5 g fiber, no sugar, 53 g protein.
Write By Request, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu 96813; or email requests to bshimabukuro@staradvertiser.com.
