by Katherine Deumling of Cook With What You Have
Blanched collard green leaves make excellent wraps and are well suited to fill and roll around most any savory filling. Make a couple for lunch as they’re easy to make ahead and pack or serve them as appetizers, cut in half or several each for dinner.
And they’re more flexible than burritos since they’re delicious cold. By all means blanch more leaves at once and store them, covered, in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Makes 4 wraps (serves 2 for a light lunch or 4 as an appetizer)
4 large collard green leaves, stem trimmed where leaf ends and discarded
1/2 cup black, red or pinto beans
Kernels from one ear of corn
6 cherry tomatoes or a bit of finely diced cucumber, onion, zucchini or veg of choice
1/4 cup crumbled queso fresco, finely chopped or grated sharp cheddar or cheese of choice (optional)
Salt and black pepper
1/3 cup avocado herb sauce (or sauce of choice–see Variations)
Avocado Herb Sauce
1 ripe avocado
1 packed cup parsley and cilantro, roughly chopped
2 small cloves garlic, peeled
Fresh jalapeno, serrano or other hot pepper or dried hot pepper, to taste (start with about 1 teaspoon fresh hot chili and add more to taste)
Juice of 1 lime
⅓ cup water
⅓ cup olive oil
Salt, to taste
Variations
use any sauce you’d like such as peanut sauce, yogurt herb sauce, or salsa verde
add cooked tofu or tempeh
vary the vegetables to suit your taste/what you have on hand (cooked and/or raw)
1. To make sauce, put all ingredients in a food processor and blend to desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Store, covered, in the fridge for three to four days. You’ll have much more sauce than you need but it’s delicious on most anything.
2. Fill a large pot half full of water. Bring to a boil, add 1 teaspoon salt. Drop leaves in water and make sure they’re covered. Blanch for 3 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain and lay leaves rib side up, flat on a cutting board, stem end facing away from you. Using a sharp chef’s knife carefully slice/skim off the thickest part of the rib, usually the bottom 3-4 inches without cutting through the leaf (it’s easier to do than it sounds as the stems are tender from blanching). This will make rolling the leaves easier.
3. Put a leaf, stem-end facing you, on a cutting board. Put 1/4 of the filling (more or less –this will vary based on the size of your leaves and you don’t want to over fill) about 1/3 of the way up form the stem (the above photo shows it a bit too low). Fold the bottom up over the filling as well as the two sides. Then roll, keeping the sides neatly tucked in until you’ve used up the leaf. Repeat with remaining leaves.
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