My whole family likes to sit around the kitchen and slowly eat all evening. We call these appetizer dinners where we just pull up chairs around the counter and things come out every 15 minutes or so. Tonight, we made the duck prosciutto the highlight but my wife also said she wanted stuffed grape leaves. We pivoted to collard greens when we couldn’t find grape leaves but is basically the same recipe. I will go through each of the things we made: stuffed collard greens, stuffed mushrooms, and steamed clams. We also started with the duck prosciutto and if you want to learn about that see the previous post.
For the stuffed collard greens:
- 1 bunch collard greens, with middle rib removed
- 1 1/2 C arborio rice
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic, finely sliced
- juice of a lemon
- handful finely chopped dill
- handful finely chopped Italian parsley
- handful finely chopped mint
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
- olive oil
- more lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
First, blanch and ice bath the collard greens for about 2 minutes. Mean while, saute the onions in a bit of olive oil until translucent but not brown. Add garlic and saute for another couple minutes. Add rice and saute another couple minutes. Turn off heat and squeeze lemon juice over. Add all the herbs and green onions and mix together. To make the rolls, put either a half collard green or whole with two sides (rib removed) overlapping on board and add a scoop of the rice and herb mix. Roll like you would a spring roll. We tried both and found the whole held together better. Put in a well oiled pan. Once all are rolled up, mix olive oil, juice of another lemon, tomato paste and some water to blend. Pour over the rolls then add enough water to cover rolls. Simmer slowly for an hour. Yes, its worth it.
For the stuffed mushrooms
- 20ish mushrooms with stems removed
- chopped stems from mushrooms
- 1 link Tuscan pork sausage
- handful Italian parsley, minced
- 4 green onions, thinly sliced
- 3 eggs
- panko
- Pecorino Romano
Put the mushrooms in a 9×13 oiled pan. Mix all the other ingredients together and change panko/eggs to get what you think is the right consistency and spoon into mushrooms. If you have leftover stuffing, make into balls and put in an oven proof pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes.
For the steamed clams:
- 12 little neck clams
- 1/2 sweet onion, thinly sliced
- olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic
- squeeze of lemon juice
To make a broth saute onions and garlic in olive oil. Squeeze the lemon juice once the onions are transparent but not brown. And enough water to get about 1/2 inch in the pan. Add clams and cover and cook about 3-5 minutes or until most have opened. Cut your losses and throw away those that don’t open. We got lucky and they all opened.
Lastly, we started the meal with some thinly slice baguette with goat Gouda and homemade duck prosciutto. Best charcuterie I have ever had, totally biased.
Working Dad Cooks 