African Greens With Green Pepper Recipes

Steps:

• Heat the oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the green beans, then season with salt and pepper and stir to combine.
• Add the stock, then bring to a simmer and cover the skillet. Cook until the green beans are bright green and just slightly tender, about 5 minutes. Uncover the skillet and cook until the liquid evaporates and the green beans are tender, 10 minutes more. Stir in the lemon juice and remaining tablespoon butter and season with additional salt and pepper.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Add about 2 inches of water to a large pot fitted with a steamer insert, and bring to a high simmer. Arrange the peppers in the steamer, cover the pot and cook, rotating the peppers as needed, until they are very tender and pliable, about 25 minutes. Remove the peppers with a slotted spoon, and drain upside-down on paper towels.
• Put the oil, onions and a pinch of salt in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and translucent, about 8 minutes. Raise the heat to medium-high. Add the beef, garlic, 2 teaspoons salt and a few grinds of pepper, and cook, stirring and breaking the beef up, until browned and mostly cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat. Let cool in the skillet for at least 10 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl, add the rice, parsley, 1 cup of the mozzarella, breadcrumbs, eggs and Worcestershire and mix to combine.
• Stand the peppers up in a 9-by-13 inch baking dish. If they fall over, cut away a little of the bottoms (without cutting through the pepper) to make a flat surface.
• Generously fill and pack the peppers with the meat-rice mixture. Top with the remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella. Add just enough water to the pan to cover the bottom to help steam the peppers. Loosely cover with foil, and bake until the peppers are tender and the filling is heated through, about 30 minutes. Remove the foil, and continue to bake for 10 minutes more.

Steps:

• Remove and discard all but 1 inch of the collard stems. Cut the remaining stems out of the leaves, separating the leaves and stems. Cut the leaves into 2-inch squares. Slice the stems into thin slices.
• Wash the leaves in a big basin of water. Leave the water in the basin or sink and use a strainer to dip the leaves out of the water. Don't wash the leaves inside a colander or pour the water off the container with the leaves inside; this would allow any sand to stay with the greens. Wash the stems separately in the same basin of water, using the same method as the leaves.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons salt. Have a colander ready in the sink to drain the greens and a bowl of water with ice cubes in it to chill the greens.
• Cook the stems for 1 minute. Add the leaves, and once they turn bright green, fish out a small leaf to taste it. The greens are done when they taste tender. You can't really tell whether the greens are done without tasting them.
• Pour the cooked greens into the colander to drain. Once the hot water has drained off, carefully put the hot greens into the ice water. Once the greens feel cool to the touch, drain them in a colander again. Drain for about 10 to 15 minutes so that they are quite dry. (At this point, the greens may be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.)
• Put the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute the onions gently in the oil. Raise the heat and add the peppers, and then the garlic. Add the blanched greens and saute until heated through. Season with salt and pepper.