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What about Beans?!
Front-Ranger:
Great idea on the potato! I used frozen beans. They have a nice flavor and a good lima green color.
I also added a couple of teaspoons of Old Bay seasoning and some minced garlic.
southendmd:
My friend Joey made her famous Boston baked beans for a neighborhood dinner in Ptown last weekend. Served along two kinds of sausage, spaetzle, roasted root vegetables, the beans were a big hit. She makes them with a big ham hock, bacon, molasses, spices and a secret ingredient--bourbon!
We even had the traditional New England brown bread in a can.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on January 04, 2024, 03:08:54 pm ---It is New Year's week still so I am making lima beans for lunch. I'm simply stewing them with onion and turkey bacon; then I will make a soup with the rest. Let me know of any good ingredients I should add.
--- End quote ---
What are the chances?! I literally just finished a (late-ish) lunch of lima beans. I made them a while ago; this was a small container I'd stashed in the freezer and thawed.
I use dried beans soaked overnight, like Jeff's mother, and cook them in the crockpot with a ham hock and broth. At some point about midway through, I add chopped and saut?ed bell peppers (red in this case, but any color works), onions and garlic and a can of tomato sauce (I once read that tomato sauce causes the beans to stop softening, so you want to make sure they're soft first; I'm not sure this is true, but I follow the advice). I serve them with Louisiana- or Crystal-brand hot sauce -- I use those rather than Tabasco because they're slightly less hot and, I think, more flavorful.
I've cooked all my dried legumes the same way for years and I should probably try to branch out. In fact, they're almost always limas; haven't made black beans or lentils or kidneys or even blackeye peas in a while (I think I confessed here that I forgot to make blackeyes on New Year's Day). And I used to use bacon a lot but I've fallen into a ham hock habit. So I'm open to suggestions, too!
Front-Ranger:
Good news on my annual exam...my cholesterol has fallen by 30 points! I attribute it in part to my love of beans. Veggies as well, in fact the whole Mediterranean diet thing.
Today's a snow day and the polar vortex makes it impossible to go out for more than a few minutes. So, I'm cooking. I've been soaking dried chick peas and am going to roast them with some homemade curry powder. Will serve myself a rice or noodle bowl topped with the peas, radish slices, carrot, red cabbage and soft boiled egg!
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on January 04, 2024, 04:09:13 pm ---Great idea on the potato! I used frozen beans. They have a nice flavor and a good lima green color.
--- End quote ---
My mother would never use green limas except as a side dish. But maybe I've misunderstood? I was thinking you were making this as a main dish.
Dried lima beans soaked overnight, then basically stewed with ham hocks and broth, with diced potatoes added--that would have been a main dish. Before crock pots were invented, my mother would have done all this on the stove. Later she would have used a crock pot. Of course she cooked the ham hocks first, to make the broth. Then she would have removed the meat from the bones and added it to the beans and potatoes.
Ham hocks, bacon, molasses, brown sugar, and I-don't-know-what-all else is the way cooks where I come from would make homemade baked beans (unfortunately no bourbon). The difference would be that they would use dried lima beans--soaked overnight, of course. Maybe that's a Central Pennsylvania thing.
The funny thing is, this is also basically the way she made bean soup. She just would have used dried navy (?) beans instead. (Except for lima beans and kidney beans, I'm a little vague on bean types. ;D )
Ham hocks, bacon, molasses, brown sugar, and I-don't-know-what-all (no bourbon)--that's the way cooks where I come from make homemade baked beans. The difference is that they use dried lima beans--soaked overnight, of course. People tend to think that's weird. Maybe it's a Central Pennsylvania thing.
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