A Hankering for Some Good Southern Cooking

I've had a 'hankerin' for some good Southern cooking for a while now as I've watched our mustard greens get large and leafy.  Mustard greens served over some hot, fresh cornbread is a delicacy and will satisfy that desire.  So I asked Tricia to make some homemade cornbread and get the skillet ready and I'd do the rest.

I went to the garden and pulled a big bunch of mustard greens (along with a head of purple cauliflower), brought them inside and washed up the leaves.  Little bugs, dirt, worms and other critters like the mustard leaves almost as much as I do, so you have to make sure you've cleaned them up good.  Once cleaned, we strip the leaves off the stem.

Mustard greens cleaned and stripped from the stems

Once the skillet is nice and hot, we drop some butter in to coat the bottom of the pan and drop the greens in the skillet, adding some water to cook them.  Of course some salt and pepper is added as well.

Fresh greens in the skillet

I peeked in the oven as I smelled the rich, intense fragrance of cornbread that was wafting through the kitchen, beckoning family members to the supper table.  It was golden brown and done!

Homemade Cornbread

We all lined up at the stove top, cutting nice big slices of cornbread and putting a link or two of smoked sausage on the plate.  Some might put their mustard greens on the side, but I like to spoon my greens over the cornbread, allowing the pot liquor to saturate the cornbread.  Pot liquor is the broth of the mustard greens that is left in the bottom of the pot.  It is rich in vitamins and nutrients and borders on a sinful act, if you pour it down the drain.

Fresh mustard over cornbread alongside smoked sausage - Now we're talking!

I learned that some vitamins (like Vitamin C) and minerals in fresh greens are water soluble, meaning that cooking them leeches them out into the water that you cook them in.  If you throw it out, you are almost defeating the purpose of eating fresh greens. With that being said, you might get the idea that this is something you must eat because it's good for you.  Well, of course, but better than that - it's GOOD!  A delicious meal that satisfied my hankering - why, that's a little slice of heaven right there!