Do you eat collard greens? Do you like them? Do you even know if you like them? I’m hoping your answers are yes, yes, and yes, and if so, you’ll love this recipe. But if your answers are no or I don’t know, this recipe for Stuffed Collard Greens is where you should start.

I didn’t grow up eating collard greens. My mother wasn’t an adventurous cook. There were many wonderful dishes on rotation in her kitchen, but if it wasn’t a recipe she got from her mother, her sister, or my Nan Nan (her mother-in-law), she probably wouldn’t have tried it. She did own the Betty Crocker Cookbook, but I don’t remember her pouring over it like I pour over my cookbooks, searching for inspiration. She’d rather get lost in a good novel. I didn’t know anyone who ate collard greens while I was growing up. I didn’t know anyone who ate collard greens while I was in college, and even for a couple of decades beyond that. I didn’t know what I was missing.

We began eating collards when they were included in our CSA box. I was stymied at first – they seems so leathery and unappealing, but if they’re cooked properly, they’re earthy and play nice with others, providing a solid background note to more punchy flavors. At least that’s how they roll in my kitchen.

Stuffed Collard Greens are blanched, then stuffed. You blanch the leaves, lay them flat, add a scoop of filling, roll them up, then bake them. It’s that easy. But what you stuff them with, and what you top them with does make such a difference. Collards can be bitter and bland, or they can be utterly flavorful and comforting. This is another dish, like my Eggplant Rollatini, where the vegetable stands in for pasta, while ground beef, Basil Pesto, and Chunky Red Pepper Marinara round out the flavors. I suppose you could use another type of rice, but why would you? Short-grain brown rice provides a nice chew and a nuttiness that complements the earthiness of the collards and lets the other elements provide the top notes. A true one-dish meal.