Cooking Up Prosperity

Photograph and Recipe by Heather Land

It is said that eating fresh greens – usually collards – for New Year’s helps to usher in a year of prosperity. The green representing “folding money.” Collards or mustards, winter greens, will bring prosperity in the form of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. The peppery bite of fresh local mustards pairs perfectly with a ham or beef bone like oxtail. Start the New Year with all good things green.

2 lbs fresh greens
1/2 qt bone broth (beef or chicken)
1-2 lb stock bone such as oxtail, or ham hock
** substitute with a few slices of bacon if needed
Pink Himalayan salt

Tear the leaves from the tough stems. Fill the sink with water. Add greens and submerge. Add broth to a stock pot with the bone or bacon. Season to taste with salt. ** If broth is bland, add cracked pepper, onion and garlic powder. Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium low. Rinse the greens and add to pot. Cover with a lid and allow to simmer until wilted but still retail their color.

Serve in their own broth, a few bits of the meat from the bone, a sprinkle of salt and a dash of pickled pepper sauce.