Beer Braised Greens Food

BRAISED GREENS

Steps:

• Heat a 6-quart casserole over medium heat. Add the bacon and duck fat and cook for five minutes to render the fat from the bacon. Add the garlic, shallot, and chiles and cook until softened but not browned, about 2 minutes. Add the greens, reduce the heat to low, add the vinegar, and season with salt and pepper. Cook the greens down until they're tender, about 1 hour. Drizzle with the honey and mix well.
• This recipe was provided by professional chefs and has been scaled down from a bulk recipe provided by a restaurant. The Food Network Kitchens chefs have not tested this recipe, in the proportions indicated, and therefore, we cannot make any representation as to the results.

SOUTHERN-BRAISED GREENS WITH BACON

Steps:

• In a large, heavy pot cook the bacon until it has rendered most of its fat, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add the onions, garlic, salt, cayenne, and black pepper and cook until the onions are wilted, about 4 minutes. Add 1 quart of water, the beer, vinegar, and molasses and bring to a boil. Begin adding the greens in batches, pressing down with a wooden spoon to submerge them in the hot liquid and adding more as they wilt. When all of the greens have been added, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the greens, partially covered and stirring occasionally, for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until tender.

BEER BRAISED GREENS

Steps:

• Clean and remove stems from greens.
• Heat bacon grease over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves and a little salt/pepper. Saute until onions are soft.
• Add the beer and brown sugar and then scrape the bottom with your spoon to remove all the bits.
• Add the chicken stock, ham hock greens and diced ham. Reduce heat to low and cover.
• Cook for 1-2 hours for desired tenderness. Mustard greens will take less time than collards. Season with salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste. Enjoy!

BEER BRAISED COLLARD GREENS

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring continuously for 1-2 minutes or until onion is softened and garlic is light golden brown.
• Add collard greens, beer, sugar, salt, red pepper flakes, and black pepper.
• Allow to simmer 30-45 minutes or until collard greens are wilted and beer is reduced slightly.
• Remove from heat and serve hot.

BEER BRAISED GREEN PEPPERS, ONIONS & POTATOES

Steps:

• In large frying pan, add green peppers, onions and 2 tblsp olive oil. Heat to moderate heat. Stir a few times until onions and peppers are starting to get transparent. Add 6 oz of beer and cover, turn heat down and simmer about 10 minutes.
• Take out of pan and set aside in a bowl.
• To dry frying pan add 2 tblsp olive oil. Heat to moderate high, add shredded potatoes. Note: You may squeeze the potatoes to release and drain the starch and then add 1 tblsp lemon juice to potatoes so they do not turn as brown before cooking.
• Fry without turning. Use spatula to raise edges and raise slightly towards the middle.
• Turn heat down after the underside starts to turn medium brown. It is best to use non stick or heavy commercial skillet.
• Add the other 6 oz of beer, tip the pan and raise the edges so the beer goes on the underside of the potatoes.
• Add the salt and pepper sprinkling on the top of the potatoes.
• Add the reserved cooked peppers and onion mixture. Cover,cook low heat 10 to 15 minutes.
• Take frying pan to the table and cut in wedges and serve with spatula. Sprinkle with cheese for individual taste only.
• Note: My family used ketchup as a condiment for this recipe. Use a very mild mellow lite beer.

COLLARD GREENS & HAM - BEER BRAISED

Steps:

• 1. If using fresh collard leaves, strip the leaves from the center stalk and if some of the larger leaves have thick veins, strip the green parts away. You can either do like I did the first few times and tear each leaf, one by one into 2 inch pieces, or you can do it the fast way.
• 2. First, whether using pre-washed greens in a bag, or fresh greens, wash well and rinse, wash again in fresh water and rinse again, and repeat one more time. Put the rinsed greens to a large colander and drain the water, then start stacking about 8-10 leaves on top of each other, roll them up and using a sharp knife cut the rolls into strips as narrow or wide as you like. This is called chiffonade (shif-a-nod.) To keep the strips from being too long, I also cut the rolls in half.
• 3. Now comes the good part. In a very large stock pot, heat the bacon grease (or margarine) and olive oil, add the onions, salt & pepper, saute until onions begin to soften and just starts to caramelize. (Note, if you are using a smoked ham hock, you must cook down the hock first in water and onions for 1 hour. This is another reason I like the cured ham bone because I prefer the chicken stock and a less smoky flavor.)
• 4. To the softened onions add the ham bone, 4 cups of chicken stock, beer, garlic, pepper flakes, and sugar. Add as many green as you can get into the pot, cover and let cook down about 5 minutes. Add more greens, repeat until all greens are in the pot. Let them cook down for about 15-20 minutes.
• 5. Add the ham chunks and both Tobasco flavors, if using, stir well and simmer on low heat for 1 hour. Check liquid level while they're simmering and add remaining chicken stock if needed. Taste pot liquor and adjust seasonings if needed.
• 6. Stir, cover and simmer another hour or more as needed to reach the desired tenderness of greens that you like. Taste again and re-season if needed. Serve with pepper vinegar for extra kick and hot buttered corn bread.
• 7. *NOTES: If you like smoked ham hocks then by all means use that. I prefer ham chunks from a cured ham. If you don't have olive oil use butter or margarine. Tobasco is optional, sometimes I use it sometimes I don't. Sometimes I put chopped bell peppers in with the onions, depending on my mood.
• 8. You can pressure can these for enjoying all year long. Follow the directions on your pressure canner. DO NOT use a hot water bath method.

BRAISED GREENS

Steps:

• Wash the greens and remove tough stems. Cut or break greens into 2-inch lengths.
• Heat a nonstick pan over high heat; reduce heat to medium-high, add the oil and sauté the garlic for 30 seconds. Add the greens, and sauté for 1 minute.
• Stir in the stock, Sherry and hot pepper flakes; cover, and cook 8 to 10 minutes, until greens are soft.