Green Beans (or “snap-beans”) and new potatoes were a staple in my home growing up.
Green beans were easy to grow when my family lived out in East Texas, and potatoes are about the cheapest thing you can buy at the grocery store. Add a little bacon and onion, then splash a little vinegar on top, and you have a feast.
Since we were poor, potatoes were an excellent way to fill up my brother and me without breaking the bank. That was absolutely necessary since we were growing fast and highly active kids.
Feeding us expensive processed foods would have bankrupted my parents.
When I got older, first entered the workforce, then headed out on my own, you wouldn’t find me spending so much time snapping green beans by hand in my kitchen.
Try this as a side dish, along with a big pot of East Texas-Style Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya.
I worked a lot of hours. I didn’t have time for that.
I had to substitute the homemade green beans and new potatoes with the canned Del Monte kind (not a sponsorship). They worked well enough if you dressed them up a little bit, but they were nowhere near as good as the real deal.
Now that I don’t have to work like that anymore, I can take my time in the kitchen and make things that genuinely make me happy. This recipe takes me back to my childhood.
This is a simple, very Southern way to make green beans. It takes some time to get the green beans cooked, but it’s no effort. You just let it simmer on the stove.
The green beans will come out very tender, cooking them like that. People outside of the South may think that the green beans are too soft, but that’s how you cook them where I come from.
I never could get used to undercooked green beans, the way people eat them outside of the South. That’s why I never eat them in a restaurant.
Green Beans with New Potatoes
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 oz. bacon - cut into a 1/4 inch dice
- 1/2 cup yellow onion - diced
- 4 cloves garlic - minced
- 1 lb. fresh green beans - ends snipped off, then snapped in half
- 12 oz. small red new potatoes or fingerling potatoes - about 8 potatoes – unpeeled
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper - to taste
- splash malt vinegar - or, apple cider vinegar (optional)
Instructions
- Cook the bacon in a 4 qt. dutch oven or pot until crisp. Remove to a paper-towel-lined plate and reserve.
- Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of oil, then saute the onions until translucent and starting to brown. About 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for an additional minute.
- Add the green beans, the new potatoes, the chicken stock, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper, then bring to a low simmer and cook for 45 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender when a knife is poked into them. Stir in the bacon pieces, and a splash of vinegar and serve.
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