Chicken and Collard Green Stew

Since moving to Jacksonville, the DH and I have started taking advantage of a service called Local Fare Jax. They deliver locally sourced vegetables and fresh eggs. We have chosen to receive deliveries every other week which seems to be enough for us.

The variety of vegetables is wonderful! We have gotten some vegetables which we have never tried before. As a result I have had to figure out how to cook them, too!

In the most recent delivery, we received some collard greens. I ate collard greens once in a restaurant, but could not remember how they tasted. Collard greens are part of the same family as kale, cabbage and broccoli.

I began looking at collard green recipes and found most cooked the greens with a smoked meat. Hmmm, smoked meat includes bacon! But seeing that the DH and I are trying to watch our calories, I decided that bacon would be flavor and chicken would be the main protein in a hardy stew.

Ingredients

2 Boneless, Skinless, Roasted Chicken Breast --about 15 oz sliced thin.
6 slices Hickory Smoked Bacon
8 cups Chicken Stock
4 oz raw Barley, pearled
1 lbs Collard Greens, de-stemmed and chopped.

In a large dutch oven, cook the bacon until the fat begins to render but the meat is still soft, then add the chicken slices, stock and barley to the pot. When the stock comes to a boil, lower to a simmer and put the collard greens into the pot. It will take a few minutes for the collard greens to soften. When they have wilted enough, stir them into the broth. It will take between 35 and 45 minutes for the barley to cook and soak up most of the liquid.

6 servings, 323 calories each

The DH was very impressed and said it was one of the best vegetables he ever tasted he even mentioned it on facebook. I guess I should be flattered that my collard green recipe ranks right up there among the SF Giants posts!

Happy eating!