Ham and String Beans pair juicy ham with tender green beans and potatoes. Pure comfort food.
If I need to pick just one comforting, soul warming dish today, I think Ham and String Beans (green beans, wax beans, haricot verts, snap beans) with potatoes is my choice.
Smoked ham hocks or shanks have a flavor and texture all their own. The meat is tender and moist. If you never had this portion of a pig, I’d compare it to the dark meat of poultry.
The cuts come from the same place, a shank named for German name of schenkel or thigh and a ham hock, which is a cut just above the foot.
My earliest gardening memories are of sitting at our kitchen table with a big colendar of green beans on my lap. My job was to snap off the ends, grab the little “string” and pull it off.
Today most varieties are “string-less” but every once in a while, I’ll find some farm fresh beans and I get to pull one!
You can serve this as soup or on a plate. I usually eat one serving each way!
This recipe originally appeared Nov 12, 2012. I’ve redone the photos and tweaked how the recipe is written. Why mess with a good thing?
Ingredients
- 2 ham shank or 2 hocks
- 1 pound fresh or frozen beans, ends removed
- 4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed (about 3 cups)
- 4 cups of homemade or 1 (32 ounce) carton of chicken stock
- 2 cup celery, chopped
- 1 cup onion, chopped
Instructions
- Place ham, celery, onions and stock in a Dutch Oven or large stock pot. Add water if necessary for liquid to cover ham.
- Cover. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until meat is tender and easily releases from the bone. (about 1 to 1 1/2 hours)
- Remove ham, cool slightly and remove skin and meat from bone. Cut into bite-sized pieces.
- Add beans to stock and cook over medium heat 10 minutes. Add potatoes and cook until beans and potatoes are thoroughly cooked. Return ham to pot and heat thoroughly.
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