A Hearty Collard Dip -- Yes, As In Collard Greens

Greens for Luck

Along with most everyone, we cooked collard greens and black-eyed peas to welcome the New Year.  The peas will bring us luck, we hope, and the greens will bring us wealth.  However, we had more greens than we could conveniently prepare on New Year's Day -- so we made them again on January 2 and Steve ( @SteveMoffett ) transformed them into a hearty dip.

How We Cook Greens

We start with two slices of diced bacon, half an onion thinly sliced, some green bell pepper, also sliced -- and let the ingredients slowly saute in two tablespoons of olive oil.  We season this mixture with sweet basil, salt and pepper before adding the greens and allowing them to sweat. (The hosts of "Posh Nosh" would say perspire or be humiliated.)

Our 2014 greens were excellent -- we actually cooked a generous portion of kale with the collards -- and were quickly consumed with our homemade hot pepper vinegar as well cornbread and black-eyed peas.

Next Day Dip

On Friday, we cooked our remaining collards (no kale this time) in the same manner, and Steve decided to use them to make a hearty dip.  

First, after they were done, we allowed the collards to thoroughly cool in the pan. 

Then, we put them in the processor and added one teaspoon of mayonnaise and one tablespoon of olive oil.   Steve added two or three shakes of Cholula Hot Sauce.

Serve on Saltines and with Cheddar Cheese

The results were flavorful -- with a little kick from the hot sauce. 

We served this humble dip on an equally humble saltine -- with a sliver of cheddar.