Mammoth Collards

The thing that grew the most when we were away were the collards. They are ENORMOUS. I haven't ever grown them so big. So the first day back, I picked about 30 leaves and made a big batch of "cabbage" rolls. I actually find collards are much easier to work with than cabbage leaves for rolls. You don't have to try to peal them off the cabbage head - I always tear half of them when I try to do this. All you have to do with collards is cut the stalk off and blanch them. The picture above is right after the collards have been blanched. They turn such a rich green and are very malleable for rolling. I fill my "cabbage" rolls with a mix of kasha, rice, onions, raisins, garlic, hot pepper, parsley, oregano and almonds. I find the dark nuttiness of the kasha is a great combination with the collards.
I made enough to fill one large and one small pan of rolls. We had the small that night with a tomato sauce and the large pan went into the freezer for another time.