Trips to far away places often leave me feeling a little screwy; I just know somethin's gonna get me. If it's not the jetlag, the bikini rash, or my own stupidity, then it's the food. Worldwide eating habits vary so much and it always takes a few days for my system to adjust before it all goes in as fast as it comes out...or vice versa. Brazil's diet is much heavier than you'd expect. Right now, it is officially winter (80 degree Fahrenheit), so like all places, they're eating heartier food for dinner in Copacabana. Here's an example: Monday: Curhasco, grilled pork and beef with sausage. Tuesday: Moqueca, fish stew, heavy with coconut milk and dende oil (the most fattening substance on the planet). Wednesday: Escongidinho, a thick casserole of meaty salted beef and dense pureed yucca. Thursday: Fejoida, black bean stew, deeply flavored with every pig part you can imagine—you eat the pig parts too—with more yucca and, wait a minute. What's this? Something Green? Thank God!
Piled up neatly next to the mountains of meat and oceans of black beans was a plate of dark green vegetable cut thinner than spaghetti. It's a plate of collard greens, sautéed for just minutes, still green as the Amazon. "But how did you cut them so thin?" I ask my fellow diners. The next day, I am taken to the market and guided to the back room. A man stacks the collard leaves, rolls them up like a cigar and puts them through a hand cranked slicer. Five minutes before dinner, the greens are thrown in a pan with some oil and garlic and cooked, just enough to make them chewable. And they are absolutely delicious. The best part? You needn't go to Brazil. You can make this recipe right at home.