I love baking a huge bone-in ham because it means that you get to put away that bone and some extra ham just especially for some for beans or a soup on down the line! Beans are a popular meal down south because they are inexpensive (read that as cheap for us southerners), they are filling, and besides the fact that on a cold day they sure do warm the belly up real quick, once you get them on the stove, they don't require a lot of tending to either. Large lima beans, or butter beans as we refer to them, have a lovely creamy texture and with this mix of seasonings, are just pure comfort food, especially on a cold day like today.
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Southern Creamy Butter Beans
(Large Lima Beans)
From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish
1 pound bag of Camellia brand large lima beans
Water to cover plus and inch
1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large stalk celery, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
2 toes of garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon of thyme
10 turns of a pepper grinder
1 to 2 cups of leftover baked ham, roughly chopped*
Ham bone or ham hock, if ya got one
1 (32-ounce) carton of chicken stock
4-6 cups of water
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) of butter
2 tablespoons of dried parsley
Pinch of Slap Ya Mama
(or your favorite)Cajun seasoning, or to taste
Couple pinches of kosher salt, or to taste
Rinse and sort beans, place into stockpot with just enough water to cover them, plus about an inch. Bring to a boil, cover and turn off the burner. Let soak covered for one hour.
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a separate pan, add the onion, celery, carrots, garlic and sauté until tender. Add the thyme and pepper and stir; add the ham chunks and continue cooking, stirring occasionally. Toss in the ham bone.
Drain the beans, return them to the pot, add the chicken stock and 4 cups of the water; add the ham, ham bone and vegetable mixture and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and continue cooking for about 1 hour. Stir in butter, parsley, and a pinch of Cajun seasoning, more or less depending on how spicy you want it. Taste and add salt if needed.
Continue cooking on a low simmer an additional 30 minutes to 1 hour, or until beans are tender and sauce thickens. Add additional chicken stock or water as needed. When beans are tender, taste and adjust seasonings as desired; cover and hold on very low.
Serve over hot cooked rice.
On thickening: Beans can be a fussy lot when it comes to being too thin or too thick. Sometimes you'll end up with too much water once they're ready, sometimes they can be far too thick like a stew. Remember to start with the stock and only 4 cups of water, adding any additional broth or water only as needed if the beans get too thick. Be sure to let the beans simmer on very low - just a bare bubble - and let them just slow stew, stew, stew! But, if in the end, the beans are ready, but the liquid is just not thick enough, then you have a couple of options on thickening that I use with all the beans I cook. You can remove a cup or two of the beans, mash them up and then return them to the pot, or you can also make a slurry of 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and about a cup or so of the bean liquid. Whisk that up real good so that it's smooth and has no lumps in it, and then stir it into the beans, allowing them to continue cooking for about 10 minutes. You can even use a combination of the two methods.
*You can substitute bacon if you don't have any leftover ham. Just chop up as much bacon as you want - at least a half pound I would say - and saute that in a pan until browned, then toss in the chopped onion, celery, carrots, and garlic right there in with that bacon and bacon fat and cook until tender, adding olive oil only if needed to saute the veggies. Pick up the rest of the recipe from there.
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Source: http://deepsouthdish.com
Utilizing leftovers: Ham, ham bone
Note: To make this dish Lent friendly, eliminate the ham and ham hock/bone, and substitute vegetable stock or plain water for the chicken stock.
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Shortcut Red Beans and Rice
Southern Style Baked Beans
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8 comments:
Is there much of a difference between large and baby lima beans? The December Angel Food box has 1 lb of babies. I am wondering if this recipe would work with them...
I just realized that looks really bad. The december angel food box has 1 lb of BABY LIMA BEANS. ;)
LOL Kristin, I knew what you meant about the babies! I haven't looked at the AFM menu yet, but actually if they are dried baby lima beans then, yes, you can use this exact recipe. I actually have a pound of those in the cabinet that I'm gonna experiment with (maybe) at some point.
If they are the frozen baby lima beans, then those only need about 10 minutes or so to cook. I usually boil them, drain them and season them with just butter, salt and pepper myself.
You can saute some onion in advance, with bacon or ham or even smoked sausage pieces, then set that aside. Cook the beans in just enough water to barely cover. Drain them, season with the onion, meat and s & p. Pretty good that way too. Hope that helps!
My husband would love this! We make a lot of soups and stews over the winter, and this would be perfect. Thanks for sharing!
I have three pounds of green lima beans in the freezer. None of us like them plain. I read your response about dried vs frozen, made a ham tonight, perfect time, thanks Mary.
Mary, I made these this past week and I have to tell you:
THE BEST BUTTER BEANS EVER!!!!!
My stomach is growling for more.
I have never been able to get my beans to turn out right, so I gave up on them. But I LOVE them, so I will try your recipe.
Paige, just be sure to give yourself plenty of time so they can stew down and thicken. Enjoy!
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