Butter Beans and Mixed Greens

Name: Butter Beans and Mixed Greens
Yield: serves 8 to 10
Ingredients: 1 (1-pound) package dried butter beans or large lima beans; 8 strips thick-sliced applewood-smoked bacon, cut into bite-size pieces; 1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped; 2 stalks celery, chopped; 6 cloves garlic, minced; 8 cups chicken stock; 2 teaspoons kosher salt; 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 2 shakes Tabasco sauce; 1 tablespoon cider vinegar; 1 large red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and coarsely chopped; 8 slices thick-sliced applewood-smoked bacon, cut into bite-size pieces; 1/2 large red onion, chopped; 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons minced garlic (about 5 cloves); 2 (12-ounce) packages cut and cleaned greens, such as mustard, collard, or baby spinach; 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar; 1 teaspoon kosher salt; Jalapeño Cornbread with Cheese, Corn, and Arugula (page 241), for accompaniment

December 14, 2011

For Southerners like me, there’s not a better meal on the planet than cornbread, beans, and greens cooked with lots of bacon. I know a lot of good old ranch cooks who feel the same. There wasn’t much green to eat for cowboys on the range, but beans cooked with salt pork were common. So common, in fact, that cowboy nicknames for beans were many: Mexican strawberries, prairie strawberries, and whistle berries. But the funniest of all, recorded in Ramon F. Adams’s book Come an’ Get It, was “deceitful beans ’cause they talk behind yore back.”

Recipe information

Yield
serves 8 to 10

Ingredients

Beans

1 (1-pound) package dried butter beans or large lima beans

8 strips thick-sliced applewood-smoked bacon, cut into bite-size pieces

1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

8 cups chicken stock

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 shakes Tabasco sauce

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 large red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and coarsely chopped

Mixed Greens

8 slices thick-sliced applewood-smoked bacon, cut into bite-size pieces

1/2 large red onion, chopped

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons minced garlic (about 5 cloves)

2 (12-ounce) packages cut and cleaned greens, such as mustard, collard, or baby spinach

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Jalapeño Cornbread with Cheese, Corn, and Arugula (page 241), for accompaniment

Preparation

Step 1
TO MAKE THE BEANS: Rinse the beans and pick through to get rid of any foreign matter. In a large stockpot, cover the beans with water, set the pot over high heat, and bring to a boil. Remove the pot from the heat and let the beans sit for 1 hour to soften. Drain the beans in a colander. Set the stockpot over medium heat and sauté the bacon, onion, celery, and garlic over medium heat, about 3 minutes. Add the chicken stock, drained beans, salt, pepper, Tabasco, and cider vinegar and bring to a boil over high heat. Decrease the heat to medium-low and simmer the beans uncovered until tender, about 1 1/2 hours. For added color, stir in the bell pepper just a few minutes before the beans are done. Serve hot with greens and cornbread.
Step 2
TO MAKE THE GREENS: In a large stockpot set over medium heat, sauté the bacon, onion, and garlic until the bacon is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Stir in the greens, cover, and cook until the greens are wilted, about 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the balsamic vinegar and salt. Serve immediately with beans and cornbread.

Pastry Queen Parties by Rebecca Rather and Alison Oresman. Copyright © 2009 Rebecca Rather and Alison Oresman. Published by Ten Speed Press. All Rights Reserved. A pastry chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author, native Texan Rebecca Rather has been proprietor of the Rather Sweet Bakery and Café since 1999. Open for breakfast and lunch daily, Rather Sweet has a fiercely loyal cadre of regulars who populate the café’s sunlit tables each day. In 2007, Rebecca opened her eponymous restaurant, serving dinner nightly, just a few blocks from the café. Rebecca is the author of THE PASTRY QUEEN, and has been featured in Texas Monthly, Gourmet, Ladies Home Journal, Food & Wine, Southern Living, Chocolatier, Saveur, and O, The Oprah Magazine. When she isn’t in the bakery or on horseback, Rebecca enjoys the sweet life in Fredericksburg, where she tends to her beloved backyard garden and menagerie, and eagerly awaits visits from her college-age daughter, Frances. Alison Oresman has worked as a journalist for more than twenty years. She has written and edited for newspapers in Wyoming, Florida, and Washington State. As an entertainment editor for the Miami Herald, she oversaw the paper’s restaurant coverage and wrote a weekly column as a restaurant critic. After settling in Washington State, she also covered restaurants in the greater Seattle area as a critic with a weekly column. A dedicated home baker, Alison is often in the kitchen when she isn't writing. Alison lives in Bellevue, Washington, with her husband, Warren, and their children, Danny and Callie.

TagsAmerican Southern Lima Bean White Bean Bean and Legume Vegetable Leafy Greens Main Dinner Gluten Free Nut Free Weeknight Meals Make Ahead Simmer Cookbooks

Recipe information

Ingredients

Beans

Mixed Greens

Preparation

Step 1

Step 2

Recipe notes