Southern-style Green Beans and Chinese Broccoli (Recipe)
Tried a recipe for Southern-style greens. They are cooked for a really long time and end up soft, silky and slightly sweet.
I made mine with green beans (one of my least favourite vegetables), gai lan (Chinese broccoli), onion, red wine vinegar, baked ham and lardons (for the smokey flavour), as well as English sausages (bangers).
In my Instant Pot, I sautéed the lardons, then added a sliced onion, and sautéed that for a few minutes. Then I added chopped baked ham. Finally, I added the trimmed green beans, left whole, and the stems of the gai lan (thicker stems halved or quartered lengthwise). I sautéed all this for a few more minutes. I also added some salt, pepper and Aleppo chili flakes.
Finally, I added 2 cups of chicken broth, 2 T of red wine vinegar, and the leaves from the gai lan, and pressure cooked the mixture on high for 30 minutes. I let the pressure drop naturally, then added the sausages and turned on the sauté function again. I wanted to reduce the pot liquor considerably.
After the sausages were cooked, I removed them and air fried them for 12 minutes, turning once, in order to get then nicely browned and a little crispy. I continued to simmer the greens until there was very little pot liquor left. I then sliced three of the sausages and heated some leftover mashed rutabaga/Swede. I served the greens over the rutabaga and added the sliced sausage to my plate. The mashed rutabaga was the perfect vehicle for this side dish.
So, you can't actually taste the green beans or gai lan, or even the onions, in the end. Instead, it's a delicious taste that is its own thing. A little sweet, a little smokey, rich and sumptuous, smooth and silky. I love it!
I'm thinking these would be great with scrambled eggs and in pasta sauce, served over low-carb noodles. I also think they could make the base for a rich soup or stew. I love that I have found a whole new way of cooking vegetables that can make them way more tasty than raw or crisp-cooked (à la New Age, California, healthy) or just plain over-cooked and sulfurous, like my British mum used to make. The sulfur smell completely disappears during the long cooking.
Just make sure not to throw away any of the pot liquor; that's where all the flavour and nutrients are.