Southern Style Greens Recipes

Steps:

• Combine onions, ham hocks, and garlic in a stockpot; add chicken broth. Cook mixture over medium heat until meat is falling off the bone, about 2 hours.
• Stir collard greens, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper into the broth mixture; cook until greens have reached desired tenderness, about 2 more hours.

Steps:

• Place the bacon in a large, wide pot and cook over medium heat until some of the fat has rendered and the bacon is light golden, about 5 minutes. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes more. Add the mustard greens in batches, letting each batch wilt before adding the next. Add the chicken broth, vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to low and cook, covered, until the greens are very tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve with hot sauce on the side.

Steps:

• In a saute pan over medium heat, cook the onions, garlic, and vinegar until the liquid has reduced by half. Add the greens, molasses, Worcestershire, hot sauce, 1 cup water, and salt and pepper. Cover with wax or parchment paper and simmer until the greens are tender, about 30 minutes. Adjust seasoning if needed.

Steps:

• Fill sink with cold water.
• Put in greens, making sure they have room to float.
• The greens will rise to the top, while the dirt will sink.
• Let greens sit in water for about 20 minutes.
• Scoop out greens being careful not to stir up the dirt on bottom.
• If they still look dirty, change water and repeat process.
• Finish the cleaning by rinsing under running water.
• Tear greens into pieces, throwing away thick veins and stems.
• In a large pot, heat the bacon grease over med-high.
• Add the greens and toss well with bacon grease for a couple of minutes.
• Add ham stock, salt and pepper and sugar and stir.
• Cover and simmer gently until very tender (DO NOT BOIL).
• As the greens cook, they will produce a lot of liquid that will cook down. Add water as needed to prevent burning, but only use what is necessary so your pot liquor won't be watered down.
• Cook time will vary but usually about 3 hours The flavor of collards is much better if you can cook for about 6 hours.

Steps:

• In a 6-qt. stockpot, heat 1 tablespoon lard over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir until tender. Add ham hocks, water, seasoned salt, pepper flakes, and sugar. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, until meat is tender, 55-60 minutes., Add collard greens, wine, and remaining 1 Tbsp. lard. Return to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, until greens are very tender, 55-60 minutes. Remove meat from bones; finely chop and return to pan. Discard bones. Serve with a slotted spoon.

Steps:

• Spray the bottom of your largest stock or soup pot with non-stick spray and brown the ham hocks for a few minutes over med-high heat.
• Add the water to pot and scrape up any brown bits - but leave them in the pot for flavor.
• Add the diced turnips.
• Wash the greens to remove any dirt or sand and chop coarsely (removing large or tough stems.).
• Add greens to your pot - you can do this as you chop them and turn heat to medium-low. Stir the greens occasionally and add more water as neccesary.
• Season to taste with your greens seasoning mix. Appx. 1-3 tablespoons per pound of fresh greens.
• Let simmer, covered, for at least one hour - the longer, the better. Greens should be completely wilted and any stems should be very tender.
• Remove ham hocks from pot, let cool for a few minutes and then remove fat and bone.
• Chop the meat into small bits and add back to the pot.
• Adjust seasonings to taste.
• Serve with hot pepper vinegar to splash over the top.
• ***if a ready-made greens seasoning is not available - try using salt, pepper, garlic powder, dehydrated onions, paprika, etc. - or your favorite seasoning blend.
• ***this can also be a vegetarian dish - just leave out the ham hocks - but you might want to add a bit of "Liquid Smoke" to get that smoky flavor.