Have you ever eaten at a Robert St. John restaraunt? He’s got what amounts to a restaurant owners compound in Hattiesburg, right down the street from the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi.
A rustic Italian spot, a new orleans pub and a southern fine-dining experience, a super swank cocktail bar, and now, a much anticipated hamburger joint are all within the confines of basically one parking lot. ALL the food at all the places (well, I don’t know about the burger spot yet since the lines have been too long for me to try it out) is really delicious, and the ambiance is always perfectly suited to the cuisine. Anyway, I’m a huge fan, especially since his food is great, AND uses his platform to support hunger initiatives in Mississippi.
He also has some pretty lovely cookbooks, and we were leafing through the Italian one, and ran across a recipe for white beans. My dad has basically been talking about wanting a bean dish for DAYS, since it’s what he wants to eat in cold weather, AND we had a huge bone-in honebaked ham (and what do you do with a ham bone if you’re from the south? You season something.) I didn’t follow the recipe exactly, and I didn’t have all the things to make his unique seasoning blends and herb blends, so I just kinda went with my gut. What resulted was my take on his already warm, creamy, Mississippified-Italian white bean dish that is PERFECT for a cold, cold night.
What you need:
1 bag of large white beans, soaked overnight (at least. these are BIG beans)
4 carrots, quartered and diced
4 celery ribs, minced
3 large garlic cloves
1/2 green pepper, minced
1 onion, minced
8 sprigs of fresh oregano
12 sprigs of fresh thyme
1/2 Tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 Tablespoons bacon grease
2 cups diced honeybaked ham
6 cups ham stock
1 cup water
Tablespoon of hot sauce
1/4 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon of each Thyme, oregano, italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
Obviously, you start by soaking your beans overnight, and if you do a quick-boil for 10 minutes or so beforehand, that’s not a bad idea as these are BIG OLE BEANS. In fact, my mama and I only soaked ours for a few hours beforehand intially, and it ended up taking us forever to get them cooked through. Save yourself some trouble by soaking thoroughly.
Put your bacon grease and olive oil (the best of southern AND Italian fats) and heat it. Sautee your celery, carrots, and onion in the fat until everything is fragrant and the onions are translucent. At that point, add in your green pepper and garlic, and sautee’ until tender.
Season will the italian seasoning and dried herbs. Throw in your ham and stir around for a minute, adding in the beans once everything has been mixed. I tossed in my hambone just for extra flavor, but this is totally not necessary. I used an herb bundle (I tied my herbs together with some kitchen twine), but you could rough chop your herbs and toss them in.
Cook this on medium-high for about 45 minutes, and then for AT LEAST 2-3 hours on simmer, adding a bit more stock and water if the beans aren’t covered. As I mentioned before, we didn’t soak our beans NEARLY long enough, so we ended up cooking this on high for 45 minutes, then simmering it for HOURS. I mean hours.
When you’re ready to serve, use your emulsion blender to puree about 1/4 to 1/3 of the beans. This will give your sauce a thickness and a richness… if you don’t have an emulsion blender (for real, what did I tell you about that?) you can pour a couple of cups of the bean/ham mixture into a regular blender and blend.
Serve with crusty bread and hot sauce, and a warm blanket, and you’ve got something really excellent for cold, dreary days or nights.
- 1 bag of large white beans, soaked overnight (at least. these are BIG beans)
- 4 carrots, quartered and diced
- 4 celery ribs, minced
- 3 large garlic cloves
- ½ green pepper, minced
- 1 onion, minced
- 8 sprigs of fresh oregano
- 12 sprigs of fresh thyme
- ½ Tablespoon olive oil
- 1½ Tablespoons bacon grease
- 2 cups diced honeybaked ham
- 6 cups ham stock
- 1 cup water
- Tablespoon of hot sauce
- ¼ tablespoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon of each Thyme, oregano, italian seasoning
- salt and pepper to taste
- Soak your beans thoroughly overnight.
- Put your bacon grease and olive oil on high heat in your pan, until it's "dancing"
- Sautee' your celery, carrots, and onion in the fat until everything is fragrant and the onions are translucent. At that point, add in your green pepper and garlic, and sautee' until tender.
- Season with the Italian seasoning and dried herbs.
- Throw in your ham and stir around for a minute, adding in the beans once everything has been mixed.
- Add in the herbs (rough chop your herbs and toss them in or use an herb budle tied with kitchen twine)
- Cook this on medium-high for about 45 minutes, and then for AT LEAST 2-3 hours on simmer, covered with the lid, adding a bit more stock and water if the beans aren't covered in liquid.
- Before serving, use your emulsion blender to puree about ¼ to ⅓ of the beans.
- Serve with bread.
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