Ham Hock and Lima Beans

This dish has no pretensions to beauty. It doesn't go out to parties. It won't be seen in restaurants. It wouldn't even invite friends over. But what it lacks in appearance and social skills it makes up for in warmth and down-home goodness. For me, fewer sensations epitomize the feeling of home like the smell of a slowly cooking pot of ham hock and lima beans. If one did have to dress this up for presentation, I'd like to think of it as the poor Southerner's cassoulet:

Ingredients:

1 smoked ham hock (smoked gammon knuckle if you are in the UK)
1 lb of butter beans*
1 small onion, diced and lightly sautéed
2 bay leaves

1. Soak the dried lima beans overnight.
2. Simmer the gammon knuckle on low heat for about 2 hours.
3. Remove the ham bone from the broth and separate the meat from the fat and bone. Discard the latter.
4. Add the limas, onions and bay leave to the pot and cook gently for 30-45 minutes.
5. Return the meat to the pot and cook with the beans for an additional 15 minutes--this allows the flavours 'to marry.'
6. Pepper to taste and serve hot. Reheats well.

*A note on butter beans versus lima beans: 'In the Southern United States the Sieva type are traditionally called butter beans, also otherwise known as the Dixie or Henderson type. In that area, lima beans and butter beans are seen as two distinct types of beans.' [Wiki]

sausage-sage cassoulet

for the stew:
2 tbs olive oil
1 lb sausage (we used sage turkey sausage)
3 leeks, chopped in small pieces
4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 granny smith apple, chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 tbs rosemary
4 tbs sage

1 can lima beans, drained
1 can great northern beans, drained
1 can butter beans, drained
(save one cup of liquid from the beans for chicken bouillon)
1 can diced tomatoes
3 tbs tomato paste
dash of ground cloves

for the crust:
2 demi-baguettes of day-old french bread
1/8 cup olive oil
8 roma tomatoes, halved and seeded, then chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley

Use an oven/stovetop pan. We used Ben's new 2-quart oval Le Creusset dutch oven, and there was just enough room for the dish (barely!) when all the ingredients were added.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
1. Cook sausages in 2 tbs olive oil until cooked almost through.
2. Put sausages on a plate and cut into bite-sized rounds.
3. Use liquid from cooking sausages to sautee leeks and garlic until soft.
4. Add chopped apple, rosemary, sage, and wine, and cook until reduced, about 5 minutes.
5. Add beans, tomatoes and tomato paste, chicken stock, cloves, and mix in the sausage.
6. Stir well, cover, and bake for 30-40 minutes.

While the stew is cooking,

1. Cut french bread into pieces about the size of strawberries.
2. Heat 1/8 cup olive oil in a frying pan and sautee bread for about 20 minutes, until golden brown.
3. When the bread is cool(ish), mix into the parsley and tomato mixture, season with salt and pepper, and save for the topping.

Take the cassoulet out of the oven.

1. Add toast topping, spreading evenly over the surface.
2. Return to oven and bake, uncovered, for about 10-20 minutes.


Serve with a Corsendonk or a Gouden Carolus (as cold as possible).