Cooking with Hops: A Hops Shoot Frittata

(Note:  I am not a chef.  I love reading recipes and coming up with my own. I cook what I know my family will eat!  I also eyeball everything…  exact measurements aren’t my forte.  And I use what I have.  Oftentimes I look in my fridge and throw something together or substitute ingredients because I don’t have what a recipe calls for.  As a result, my meals always come out a little different each time I make them! Please let me know what you think…  if I need to add or take away!  I’m learning too!!)
Fun Fact:  Did you know that hops are one of the most expensive vegetables in the world?  And I got 10 different varieties growing in my backyard!!!! (Yea, for me!) 
Recently I came across an article that explained that you can eat hop shoots.  So I thought, why not?  The stems themselves are described in the same way as asparagus and have even being mentioned by Pliny that they were eaten during the height of Roman reign.  So I've decided to saute them in olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper and add them to a frittata. If you are interested in actually using the hop flower (what is used in beer) experts say to use them as a seasoning, where you would traditionally use rosemary, thyme, oregano and marjoram.  
Saute instructions:
1) Trim leaves off of stems.  (Apparently you can cook with them too, but I'm leaving them out of this one!)
2) Saute you stems in Olive Oil, Garlic, Salt and Pepper
3) Add them to your frittata or egg dish.

And the verdict is:

  

Cooking with Homebrewed Beer: Chicken Fajita

YUM, YUM, YUM!

Note:  I am not a chef.  I love reading recipes and coming up with my own. I cook what I know my family will eat!  I also eyeball everything…  exact measurements aren’t my forte.  And I use what I have.  Oftentimes I look in my fridge and throw something together or substitute ingredients because I don’t have what a recipe calls for.  As a result, my meals always come out a little different each time I make them! Please let me know what you think…  if I need to add or take away!  I’m learning too!!

What you’ll need:

1-gallon size baggy

¾ cup of homebrewed beer

1 pound or so of Chicken (or any meat)

Eyeball about 2 Tlbs spoons of Soy sauce

Eyeball about 2 Tlbs spoons Worchester Sauce

Garlic

A wee bit of olive oil

Throw all of this into the gallon size baggy, and marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.  (Try not to spill the beer while pouring it into baggy, I’m always spilling the beer…in EVERY recipe, and I swear I’m not drinking!)

While it’s in the fridge, start cutting up:

1 yellow onion

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

Add this to the baggy when through.

After about an hour of everything marinating in the fridge, take out just the chicken, sprinkle it with a little salt and pepper, and cook it on both sides until done.  Then add the veggies and add a little of the beer marinade.  Cook for about 6 minutes until veggies are tender.  Make sure you heat up corn tortillas.

On a plate place the warm tortillas, scoop up the fajita mixture and add garnish with any of the following:

Jalapenos

Cilantro

Sour Cream

Salsa

Avocado

Enjoy!  Let me know of any changes/additions that need to be made!