Join Chef Ashleigh Shanti on Thursday Dec 17 to watch her preparing this incredible collard-centric salad, and then participate in a live Q&A. You’ll then be able to prepare your own collard dish (salad or otherwise) and join the Collard Happy Hour for more community-centered collard fun, and perhaps a collard cocktail or two.

Learn more about Collard Week programming.

Raw Collard Greens

Raw collard greens form the base of this salad. Take approximately one pound of your favorite collard greens (tender varieties work best). Stack them on top of each other and roll tightly. Cut into thin slices (chiffonade). Set to one side.

Collard Green Dressing

Strip the leaves from the stem of approximately a half pound of collards. Place the stems to one side to be used later in the collard stem pickles. Place the leaves in a blender and add the following ingredients:

  • 1 handful of parsley
  • 2 teaspoons of salt
  • 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 oz of sorghum (can substitute honey)
  • 1/2 cup of sherry vinegar
  • Cracked black pepper to taste

Blend into a smooth paste for your dressing.

Collard Chips

Strip the leaves from the stem of approximately a half pound of collards. Place the stems to one side to be used later in the collard stem pickles.

Deep fry at 350F for a few minutes (or until crackling stops and leaves darken). Remove from fryer and drain on paper towels and immediately sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt and cool.

Alternatively: create collard chips in oven following a traditional kale chip recipe.

Collard Stem Pickles

Slice collard stems into 1/4″ thick rounds. You’ll want about 1 quart of sliced stems for the following pickling liquid:

  • 1 cup of apple cider vinegar
  • 2 cups of water
  • 1 teaspoon of mustard seed
  • 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
  • 2 teaspoons of salt

Bring all the ingredients to a boil and then pour the hot liquid over the collard stems. Leave stems for at least 30 minutes prior to eating, but longer (overnight) is better.

Put it all together!

Drizzle the collard leaf dressing over the raw collard leaves, sprinkle collard stem pickles all over and top with crispy collard chips! ENJOY!