Our favorite magazine, Garden & Gun, just featured this recipe.  With all of our Jamaican polo friends joining us, it seemed natural to feature a callaloo (sometimes calaloo, callalou, calalou, or kallaloo), which is a popular Caribbean dish originating in West Africa served in different variants across the Caribbean.

Carla Hall’s Callaloo Collard Greens

Serves 6-8

Ingredients
3 strips bacon
1 small green bell pepper, cut into ½-inch dice
1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
¼ cup minced garlic, from about 8 cloves
1 tsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 tbsp. paprika
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 Scotch bonnet or habanero chile, slit open
1 cup water
1 cup coconut milk
3 lb. collard greens, washed but not stemmed
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preparation
In a large Dutch oven or stockpot, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove the bacon, but not the fat, and drain on paper towels.

To the fat, add bell pepper, onion, garlic, and salt and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in paprika, then add thyme and chile. Cook for 2 more minutes, and then add water and coconut milk. Raise heat to high and bring mixture to a boil, then reduce to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.

While the liquid cooks, prepare the collards: Roll the leaves like cigars and cut them into ¼-inch-wide strips, stems included. Stir sliced collards into the liquid and cook for 30–40 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Season to taste and serve with bacon crumbled on top.

Hot Tip: Sweet Home Cafe, the restaurant in Washington, D.C.’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture for which Carla Hall helped develop menus, has two stations devoted to Southern food—one serving soulful classics like collard greens, another serving Creole specialties.