Collard Wraps with Egg Salad (Cooking from the Winter Garden)

This recipe is for the low carb -- gluten free crowd (at least I'm guessing it's low carb and gluten free)

On Friday we celebrated the end of the Mayan Long Count Calendar along with the Winter Solstice with a picnic potluck with about 20 homeschool teens and their families at one of the picnic areas of the Wolf River Greenbelt Park (a greenbelt with a hiking and biking path that runs along the Wolf River from Germantown west almost to midtown Memphis).   Fortunately the 40-50 mph winds of Thursday had died down to a mere 10-20 mph by Friday, and the brilliant sunshine mitigated the cold of the day, which never got above 45 or so degrees.

I made Egg Salad Wraps, using collard leaves as the wraps.  A friend called them "southern dolmas" (dolmas being middle eastern stuffed grape leaves -- and a Turkish woman that was there said that they sometimes use collard leaves instead of grape leaves to make dolmas -- though not filled with egg salad).  The collard greens, chives and parsley were all picked fresh from my winter garden (during the high winds and rapidly dropping freezing temps of the preceding day!).  The eggs were from the store, because alas my chickies are not laying more than 6 or so eggs a week during this solstice season.

They were a definite hit and easy to make.  From what I have gleaned on the internet, you can pre-prepare the collard leaves and keep them for several days in the fridge, ready to use for individual wraps any time you want.

THE EGG SALAD:

Of course you can use any egg salad recipe, but this is the one I used:

8-12 eggs, hard boiled
1/2 to 3/4 cup mayo (or however much you want)
1/4 grated carrot (I like this, because it gives a little crunch)
3 T chopped green onions (I used chives from my garden, or you could use a mild onion)
3 T chopped fresh parsley
3T chopped fresh cilantro (although I didn't use this because I didn't have any)
1 T dijon mustard
1 1/2 t curry powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper

THE COLLARD LEAVES:

Wash and dry your collard leaves.  Cut out the big middle stem on up in the leaf, but don't cut the leaf in half yet -- leave the two halves attached.  Now, some folks simply take all the leaves prepared in this way and let them soak an hour or two or overnight in warmish water with lemon juice or vinegar to soften the leaves so they will fold easier.  Other folks lightly steam the leaves (like just a few seconds).  I tried both methods and found I liked working with the lightly steamed leaves better.

Take your prepared leave, and cut out the rest of the middle stem, cutting the leaf in half.  Overlap the two halves in front of you, place some of your filling on it and then proceed to tuck and roll just like you do a tortilla or grape leaf or any other wrap.

On my "southern egg salad dolmas", I think a little dollop of chutney or some other "relish" (chow chow?  picalilli?  cranberry sauce?) would have elevated this to a sublime meal or party dish.

I may start keeping some prepared collards handy in the fridge to make into quick wraps on a regular basis -- it's a fun way to increase your leafy greens consumption and collards are incredibly good for you and so easy to grow in the fall and winter!