Green beans and potatoes are an easy to prepare comfort food that not only tastes great, but also is good for you. High in vitamin c, vitamin k and fiber, green beans are low in calories and dense in nutrients.
Here’s a recipe that’s sure to warm up your spirits, whether the weather is hot or cold:
Green beans and Potatoes
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs. fresh green beans
- 6 - 8 medium size new potatoes
- 1 small piece of ham (cooked) or 8 slices bacon (browned, but not crisp)
- 1 tablespoon chopped onion (optional)
- 1 tablespoon of butter (salted or unsalted)
- Sea salt
- Fresh ground pepper
- Wash the beans in cold water and snap the ends off (removing strings if necessary). Break beans in half or into 2 inch pieces, as desired.
- Peel the potatoes and cut them into quarters.
- Place the beans and potatoes into a large pot. Add water until it covers the beans, giving them plenty of room to cook.
- Cut the ham (removing most of the fat) or bacon into smaller pieces and add to the beans.
- Add onion, butter and salt to taste.
- Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer on medium for about 1 hour, adding water as needed. Add salt and pepper.
Using canned green beans can speed up the cooking process; however, these beans usually fall apart while cooking and become mushy.
You may be wondering, why add butter to this recipe? It’s simple. Adding butter gives richness to the bean broth, adding a touch of flavor to the beans, without making them ‘buttery’. This bit of fat also softens up the beans and potatoes. If there’s a lot of fat on the ham you’re adding, you might want to consider using less or no butter, since this will only make the beans greasy.
To turn this into a main course, add more ham and serve corn bread as a side.
Other delightful takes on this recipe include the addition of peppers. For a meatless but still flavorful version, try using broth as a substitute for the water, ham and butter.
Adventurous cooks can also add chopped parsley and tomato paste and bake this dish, rather than cook it, for ‘Greek’ green beans and potatoes.
Aleashia Walton - I have a bachelor's degree in Journalism and have been writing and editing professionally for over seven years.
