first collards

I cooked them last night as a side dish. Didn't get any photos because I was in a hurry to finish making dinner. Cut all my yellow collards back to two or three small leaves- the stack I brought into the kitchen seemed huge, but it cooks down to very little. If you look online, there's a lot of fuss about how to properly clean collards, but I didn't have any trouble- I don't grow mind in sandy soil and the mulch kept the leaves clean of splashed dirt. One rinse was good, I did a second just to be sure. The few recipes I looked up- this being a new green for me- said to simmer them a long time- thirty or forty minutes at least. Some said up to two hours. I sauteed a bit of minced garlic in olive oil (next time will add onion too), then tossed in the roughly chopped collards, then added some vegetable stock and simmered for just ten minutes, covered. They were pretty darn good that way, not tough or chewy at all. I did purchase seed for collards known to be more tender and sweet- the 'yellow cabbage' and 'alabama blue'. I'm really happy to say my husband ate them with gusto, and even the kids did not complain but finished theirs. Already lettuce is starting to bolt in the garden so I'm glad to have them, and I feel the collards have more versatility in the kitchen- I can make frittatas and quiches, stir-fry and soup . . . as well as just traditionally cooked greens. I just need to grow more next year! I cut seven plants down and it cooked down to just three small servings. Next year I will fill a bed just with collards, cut half down at a time I think.