Homestyle Southern Green Beans
I always think of my Aunt Chloe when I make these old fashioned green beans. She was my father’s sister and always my favorite and closest aunt. Their family was originally from Mexia Texas and Aunt Chloe was very Southern and quite the character. I can still remember her setting her hair in pin curls with little bobby pins!! She married about 3 or 4 times if I remember correctly and didn’t put up with much from any those men. She had a house in the Montrose area of Houston and at one point lived on a small farm in Splendora Texas, where I would spend part of my childhood summers.
There was always a garden growing there and she would ‘put up’ all her veggies and peaches to be used later. I’ll have to make her peach cobbler next summer. We would pull the potatoes up early to get the little bitty new potatoes and if you’ve never had them…you are missing an old farmers treat. Mixed with fresh green beans and ham, they are incredibly delicious.
My Aunt Chloe is gone now, but she had an amazing good, long life. She square danced in her 80’s at the ‘old folks home’ as she called it then, with a big group. When she came to my house for my mom’s 80th birthday …I think she was about 86 then, you should have seen her perk up when one of the much younger men offered to help her to the car when she was leaving. She grinned from ear to ear and I believe she had a skip to her step!! I can still hear her voice and see her face. God, I miss her…
Southern Style Green Beans
Ingredients:
- 1 lb green beans
- 2 cups very small new potatoes
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- ham hocks or bacon
Directions:
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Wash green beans, cut off stem ends and snap into small pieces. The really small potatoes are kind of hard to find today, sometimes I see them at the farmer’s market or my grocer will have them on a specialty rack. Ask for them. How funny that they used to be eaten only by the farmers because they were too small to sell!! I used the smallest I could find and then cut them in half.
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If using ham hocks, place them in a large pot, add onions and garlic and cover with water. Simmer for about an hour or till very tender. Remove to cool and pull all meat off the bone and put back in the pot. Add green beans and potatoes, lots of salt and pepper and simmer till very tender. Amazing broth!
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If using bacon, fry a package of bacon in a large pot till crisp and remove, then chop. Add bacon, onion and garlic to the pot and saute in bacon grease….(ALSO, if I haven’t said this yet….always, always, always save your bacon grease. No self respecting Southerner would be caught dead without a mason jar of bacon grease in their fridge. It flavors SO many things.) Anyway…we were sauteing the bacon, onions and garlic in that bacon grease for a couple of minutes, add green beans and potatoes, and then cover with water. Add lots of salt and pepper and simmer until all is very tender.
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Enjoy this old time classic.
Tagged: comfort food, easy, easy thanksgiving meals, green beans, holidays, homestyle, meal ideas, vegetable, vegetables
Hi, I'm Carolyn. Thanks for stopping by to visit. Please make yourself at home and stay a while.
Growing up in Houston, Texas, I quickly learned that food is about family gatherings and Southern comfort. I'm a home cook with many years of experience and I love to make easy, simple and yummy comfort food and trying new recipes.
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Bacon grease always lived in old Folgers coffee cans in our family. Almost all of our old family recipes started with bacon “drippings” as my momma called it.