Butter Beans to Blackberries : Recipes from the Southern Garden

by Ronni Lundy

• ISBN13: 9780865475885
• ISBN10: 0865475881
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2003-05-21
• Publisher: North Point Pr

Summary

"Lundy . . . has the art of storytelling . . . and that's one reason it is such a pleasure to read this book." Newsday In this definitive cookbook, Ronni Lundy taps her Kentucky roots and the recipes and food passions of fellow Southernersincluding both home cooks and professional chefsshe met in her travels through the region. As she cooks her way through succulent purple-speckled butter beans, lady cream peas, corn, greens, muscadines, peaches, figs, mayhaws, and other bounty from the Southern garden, she passes along a trove of easy-to-follow recipes that will delight both Southerners who are rediscovering their cuisine and newcomers to it.

Author Biography

Ronni Lundy has been a pop music and restaurant critic for the Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky, and the editor of Louisville magazine. She now lives in Asheville, North Carolina.

Table of Contents

At the Table	p. ix
Introduction	p. xi
Butter Beans	p. 3
Crowder Peas	p. 21
Soup Beans, Red Beans, and the Humble Peanut	p. 37
Green Beans	p. 53
Sallet Greens	p. 77
Corn	p. 95
Grits	p. 109
The Spring Garden	p. 119
Tomatoes	p. 133
Cucumbers and Melons	p. 149
Okra	p. 159
Irish Potatoes	p. 169
Eggplant	p. 179
Bell Peppers	p. 189
Squash	p. 201
Sweet Potatoes	p. 213
Roots	p. 225
Mountain Mushrooms	p. 235
HoneyBells, Ruby Reds, Calamondins, and Other Citrus	p. 251
Peaches, Mayhaws, Quinces, and Bananas	p. 271
Apples	p. 285
Figs, Plums, and Scuppernongs	p. 303
Strawberries and Blueberries	p. 313
Blackberries	p. 327
Things to Order	p. 338
Places to Go	p. 341
Farm Markets	p. 343
Index	p. 345
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Chapter One

It was likely June when Faulkner and Porter had their historic conversation. At least that's when the butter beans, the speckled ones, come in around Mississippi, Faulkner's home. Wylie Poundstone, the chef at King Cotton Produce Company, a combination produce market and restaurant in Montgomery, Alabama (see Places to Go, page 341), says, "It takes a while for butter beans to grow, but if the weather cooperates, we can have them from June right on through the fall." Bob Gulsby, one of the four owners of King Cotton says, "As long as we've got 'em, we'll ship 'em fresh to anybody who wants to order."

    Those who do are often transplanted Southerners longing for the taste of a vegetable as common as July fireflies where they grew up, but hardly known elsewhere. My experience has taught me that asking for butter beans north of the Mason-Dixon is apt to get you a bowl of thick soup made from very large, dried lima beans. It's tasty, but a bit on the brackish side and doesn't have the sweet, creamy flavor of a Southern butter bean at all.

    The term "butter bean" is used to refer to lima beans, which fall roughly into three categories. First it refers to fresh limas, with the most prized being those with beans of the "baby" variety--small (about the size of your thumbnail) and very tender. Such beans can be found throughout the United States either fresh (in season), frozen, or canned.

    Second, a distinction is made in many regions of the South between this already small lima bean and even smaller ones. These smaller beans may go by different colloquial names. They are known as butter peas in the Montgomery area but may be called "sieve" beans in other parts of Alabama or the South. This is also the bean prized as the "sivvy" of Charleston and the surrounding Low Country area of South Carolina. Joe Kemble, assistant professor of horticulture at Auburn University, says the common names are a corruption of the more proper name, sieva bean. Sivvy beans are prized for their sweetness but, alas, don't ship well.

    Third, the speckled butter bean is a variety of lima with a colored, mottled skin--usually a deep purplish brown and green, or black and green. Speckled butter beans have a creamier texture and more buttery flavor than their green lima cousins. I, like my mother before me, watch religiously for speckled butter beans in the very brief period in the summer when they may show up shelled and fresh in the produce department of local supermarkets. Although the farmers in this part of Kentucky don't grow them commercially, speckled butter beans are a summer staple in farm markets throughout the deeper South, and if you drive the noninterstate highways in June, you are apt to see hand-lettered signs on the side of the road proferring "fresh speckled butter beans--just in." Most commonly, though, I come by these beans frozen, and sold throughout the year at supermarkets here. They are very nearly as tasty frozen as they are fresh.

    Like sieva beans, speckled butter beans sometimes go by colloquial names. For instance, Wylie Poundstone says lots of folks around Montgomery call them rattlesnake beans. And elsewhere a lima variety with cream and maroon speckled skin is called the Christmas bean.

    Technically, you can interchange the more widely available baby lima beans for the speckled butter beans in most recipes, but the flavor will be different. All of the beans are delicious, however, and, as Wylie says, "You can do so much with them. They're some of the most versatile vegetables in the Southern kitchen."

    Remember to go easy on seasonings when you cook butter beans, since it's the beans' own subtle flavor which you want to emphasize.

Classic Southern Butter Beans

SERVES 6 TO 8

This is the fundamental recipe for fresh shelled butter beans. If you're accustomed to limas cooked in very little liquid (seasoned with a pat of butter and dash of salt on the way to the table), this may seem like a lot of water for cooking, but you want the dish to yield some sweet pot likker to be sopped up by Real Cornbread (page 103). If you're eating Low Country-style, serve the beans over rice.

2 quarts water

1 ham hock

6 cups (about 2 pounds) fresh shelled

baby lima or speckled butter beans

salt

In a large pan, bring the water and ham hock to a boil. Cook, partially covered, at a low boil for about 30 minutes, to season the water. Add the beans and bring the water back to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes to 1 hour (see The Time It Takes, below), until the beans are tender and creamy inside. Remove the hock and add salt to taste. Serve immediately or keep refrigerated for 2 to 3 days. Reheat thoroughly before serving.

Note: Frozen speckled butter beans or baby lima beans may be used. When you add them to the water, use a wooden spoon to gently break apart clumps.

the time it takes

Southerners cook butter beans anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours. The choice depends somewhat on the size and freshness of the beans (the larger or older they are, the longer they take to reach tenderness). Some folks like butter beans just at the point when the inside is tender but the skin still pops when bitten. Unless you are making a salad or relish with the beans, I think that's missing the point. Perfect butter beans are cooked until the insides are quite creamy--the reason for the "butter" in their name.

    In most of the recipes for butter beans here, you will find estimated cooking times with a wider variance than is usual in a cookbook. Experiment until you discover what degree of tenderness you prefer; and be aware that even the same type and size of bean will take a different amount of time to cook from one batch to another, depending on the freshness of the beans. If you want to serve butter beans for a dinner that requires precision timing, cook them to doneness a day or two before, refrigerate them, and repeat thoroughly at serving time.

Jerry's Speckled Butter Beans

SERVES 4

My mother loved to cook frozen speckled butter beans in the winter when their rich, creamy texture and nutty flavor were salve to the soul. We made many a meal of these beans, her mashed potatoes (page 171), and Real Cornbread (page 103), and thought ourselves supremely well fed.

2 cups water

16-ounce package frozen speckled

beans 2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons half and half

salt

In a pan with a lid, bring the water to a boil and add the butter beans, stirring gently with a wooden spoon to separate. When the water returns to boiling, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 30 to 35 minutes, until the beans are tender. (You may need to add a little water near the end of the cooking time to keep the beans from sticking, but you want most of the water to cook away.) Add the butter and allow it to melt, then add the half and half and stir. Cover and simmer for another 5 minutes, then add salt to taste.

Speckled Butter Beans and Country Ham in Lemon Velouté

SERVES 6 TO 8

I never thought I'd taste a dish with butter beans as blissfully perfect as my mother's, but this one is its peer, with a velvety texture and the perfect marriage of complementary flavors in the beans, tart sauce, and tangy ham.

BUTTER BEANS

2 1/2 cups water

5 cups fresh or frozen speckled butter

beans 1/4 pound country ham with fat removed,

cut in small pieces

LEMON VELOUTÉ

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon

juice

salt

In a heavy pan, bring the water to a boil and add the butter beans. (If using frozen beans, use a wooden spoon to gently break up clumps.) When the water returns to a boil, turn the heat down and let the beans simmer for about 45 minutes, or until the skins are tender and the insides creamy, and most of the water has boiled off.

    While the beans are simmering, make the lemon velouté. In a small pan, heat the chicken stock. Fill the bottom of a double boiler with water, and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, in the top of the double boiler, set directly over low heat, melt the butter and whisk in the flour. Cook, whisking, for five minutes, then slowly whisk in the hot stock. Place over the boiling water and cook for 45 to 50 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep a crust from forming on top.

    When the beans are done, add the country ham pieces and cook until the ham is just warmed. Meanwhile, remove the velouté from the heat, add the lemon juice, and salt to taste. Remove the beans from the heat, pour the velouté over the beans, and mix well. Serve immediately.

Steam Beans

If you should luck upon a crop of fresh sivvy beans or butter peas still in their pods, and they are truly fresh and very young, you may want to try something my friend Don Nobles of Montgomery, Alabama, recommends: "I've had butter peas steamed still in their little pods when they are very, very young. Just steamed for a few minutes until they're tender, and then served with salt and butter. They've a flavor in between an English pea and a snow pea. Truly splendid!"

Wylie's Butter Bean and Shoepeg Salad

SERVES 8

King Cotton Produce Company in Montgomery, Alabama, is more than just a produce market. "It's like a Cracker Barrel in a Harry's," says chef Wylie Poundstone--which means it's a terrific down-home restaurant smack dab in the middle of a superb greengrocery. (See Places to Go, page 341.)

    There are bins of the freshest fruits and vegetables from the Montgomery region lining the aisles. ("King Cotton's strawberries are the most wonderful thing this side of the Atlantic," says local food fanatic Don Nobles. "They're small and sweet, sweet, sweet. They're worth driving to Alabama for.")

    The tables for the restaurant are set in the produce aisles, and the menu items are created from whatever is freshest that day. Wylie, who trained at Johnson and Wales in Providence, Rhode Island, and worked at Emeril's and Commander's Palace in New Orleans before coming back home to Montgomery to ply his trade, says one of his most popular recipes is this simple but delicious salad made with speckled butter beans.

1/2 cup water

1 1/4 cups fresh or frozen speckled butter

beans

1/2 cup finely chopped red onion

1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper 1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

black pepper

11-ounce can whole shoepeg corn (see Note) 1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons cider or red wine vinegar

In a saucepan with a lid, bring the water to a boil and add the butter beans. Stir very gently with a wooden spoon until the water begins to boil again, then turn the heat to low and cover the pot. Simmer until the beans are al dente (the insides are just tender, and the skins are intact and "pop" a little when you bite them). Fresh butter beans could take from 15 to 25 minutes to cook to this state, depending on how fresh they are. Frozen beans should take 20 to 25 minutes.

    If there is more than a teaspoon of water left in the pan when the beans are ready, drain them, or turn up the heat to a brisk boil until only about a teaspoon of water is left, shaking or gently stirring the beans in the pan to keep them from burning.

    In a bowl, mix the warm beans with the onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Add the salt and several grinds of fresh black pepper.

    Drain the shoepeg corn and add it to the beans, tossing gently.

    In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise and vinegar until blended. (Wylie uses cider vinegar, but I like the red wine variety for the appealing pale pink color it gives the dish.) Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss until they are well coated. Transfer the salad to a nonmetal container with a lid. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours.

Copyright © 1999 Ronni Lundy. All rights reserved.