Green Posole Stew

   This stew came from our attempt to learn to cook collard greens. It is a
   derivative of a recipe from a Harlem soul food restaurant, and also it is derived from "Southern Collard Greens" in "Joy Of Cooking." In addition to using collard greens, this recipe uses posole, which is what they call hominy in New Mexico. We like the term posole better, so that's what we used in the title. When we shop, though, we look for a can of hominy.

   This stew is nutritious, filling, healthy, and tastes just wonderful. (GWE - I might add onion and garlic next time, or use some chicken broth if I had some left over.)

   Ingredients

     1 hamhock (smoked pork loin)
     8-10 cups water
     - or -
     chef's portion ham, roasted in Dutch oven, save the liquid, cut off most of
     the meat and use in other recipes, retain the hambone and follow
     instructions for hamhock below, use both the roasting liquid and the
     boiling liquid in the soup

     1 large bunch collard greens (look for a bunch with zero yellow leaves)
     1 can hominy, rinsed and drained (large can)
     1 small can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

     Seasonings: salt, pepper, Vietnamese chili garlic sauce, Tabasco, cayenne

   This takes 2-3 hours to prepare.

   Hamhock (or hambone)

   Put hamhock and water in a big pot, simmer until it falls apart (1-2 hours) Remove hamhock from pot (reserving liquid) and discard skin, bones etc. Keep the meat. Defat the broth (I use a gravy separator pitcher but you can also cool the broth and defat with a paper towel, or make it ahead and chill it in the refrigerator and peel the fat off the top. Pork fat is just great for making fried potatoes, by the way.)

   Collard Greens

   Wash, devein and chop the collard greens, then boil them in salted water for 25 minutes. Drain, rinse, drain. Deveining the collard greens takes quite awhile but you must do it for best results. The greens can be chopped or torn into pieces approximately the size of a postage stamp or maybe a little larger. Use quite a bit of salt. Do not skimp on boiling, it really does take a full 25 minutes to cook these greens.

   Soup

   Add the liquid the pork bone was boiled in to a soup pot. If you're using a hambone, add the liquid left in the Dutch oven when the ham was roasted. Open, drain and rinse the hominy (which I'm calling by another name, posole) and red kidney beans and add to the pot. Add the meat. Add the greens. Bring to a simmer. Season with white and black pepper, ¼ tsp Hungarian paprika, ¼ tsp chili garlic sauce, a dash or two of Tabasco. Simmer for 30-60 minutes and then serve.

   Serve in a large bowl with cornbread or rice. Put the Tabasco sauce on the table.


   === TRY 2, YEARS LATER

   Vegan Greens & Beans stew

   1 bunch collards, washed, ribbed, chopped postage-stamp-sized pieces
   16 oz. dry dark red kidney beans
   1 onion
   2 bay leaves
   2 boxes vegetable stock (about 2 quarts)
   1 can hominy/posole
   vegetable bouillon

   Add first 5 ingredients; pressure cook 35 minutes. Let cool naturally.

   Add hominy and veg bouillon, put on slow cooker mode for about an hour.

   The last part is important. Serve over rice, or with bread or cornbread. Put hot sauce on table. For non-vegans, dice some Polish sausage and brown in skillet, then add to soup.