Yesterday I decided that I was going to use a ham bone I had leftover in the freezer and boil a nice big pot of greens with it. I'd never done this before, but I was pretty confident all would go well. And my god, did it ever. As I was tasting them right before serving I think I had a little mouth orgasm. Oh yeah, that's right. They're that friggin' good. If you have a ham bone, make these.
If you don't, go sweet talk a nice lookin' pig. Seriously, make these.
Ham and Greens
Serves 4 (or two greedy people like me)
1 ham bone, with a good portion of ham still on the bone
3 lbs. greens, I used collard, beet greens, and spinach - all frozen
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper
1. In a 6-8 quart soup pot run water until it just covers the ham bone.
2. Heat over medium until it boils, keep at a steady boil until you notice the meat's starting to fall off - about 1 hour
3. Carefully remove ham bone from water and pull all the meat off the bone, if it won't come off easily return the bone to the pot and boil a few minutes longer.
4. Return the meat to the pot, discard the bone. Pour all the greens into the pot with the ham.
5. Maintain medium to medium-low heat to keep at a steady boil for about three hours to boil down. Do not attempt to shorten by removing the water, the point is to maintain the flavors in the water and concentrate them by boiling down. Season to taste with salt and pepper, but go easy on the salt.
6. When water has reduced to below the level of greens, stir in sour cream and heavy cream.
7. Serve. Also good as leftovers.
