Hi From my February break, I am finally available. I am not going to say Welcome Back ( but secretively welcome back) because, I have already used that one a number of times and ill be gone again soon.
I am writing to you during my second day of vacation, on the couch, under a warm blanket, the winter sun shining through my window and a still life of Vicks products on my coffee table, oh, and some scattered snot tissues. The perfect introduction to my recipe.
Being sick when you were a kid was a much more fun ordeal. Stay at home from school, watch cartoons, get your dad to buy you a donut, or whatever other familiar and manipulative tricks you had up your sleeve.. I know I had a lot. However, when you're an adult, it actually just takes you away from this life that you're trying to live, as if it wasn't already hard enough. Today on my walk I looked up at the sun and as it reflected its rays of warmth on my pale, sickly face, I said a little prayer " Please let me feel better tomorrow, i want to go skiing, I want to have a cocktail, I want to give my boyfriend a kiss" . I don't know, it might work.
In the mean time, a pot of brothy beans will fill my cup. I truly have never cooked actual dried beans, and I am not sure why, but it was great! They were buttery, and soft, and really less fussy than iI had always thought they would be. No soaking. Just a good rinse before I threw them in the pot. If you have stock, Thats will be great for this, If you do not, Water will substitute just fine, as the other aromatics and stock meat we will have in there will do it our brothiness justice no matter what.
Ingredients
*** if you have stock use the stock, enough for everything in the pot to be covered. If you only have a bit of stock, substitute the rest of the needed liquid with water to cover everything with water.
Serves 4 people comfortably
4 cups Chicken stock ( or see note above)
1/4 Cup of water ( add this bit of water either way)
1 chicken leg quarter salt and peppered
1 ham hock ( optional honestly)
1 cup dried yellow eyed beans ( or any other dried bean honestly)
1 small red onion cut into quarters
1 small yellow onion cut into quarters
one head of garlic, peeled, and smashed whole
1 tablespoon dried rosemary ( use fresh if you have
1 tablespoon dried thyme ( use fresh if you have)
Kosher salt
black pepper
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1.Heat a 5 quart dutch oven on med- high heat or other tall pot with a good drizzle of olive oil, take out your chicken while pot is heating up and season generously with alt and pepper
2. When pan is hot, sear chicken on both sides until chicken is browned and crispy on sides. While searing chop your onions into quarters and garlic. I like to just leave the garlic whole and smashed with skin peeled.
3. When chicken is seared on both sides, take it out and set aside. Turn heat to low-med and caramelize your onions and garlic in the chicken fat, add your herbs and season with salt and pepper. Cook these until the onions and garlic are slightly browned and wilted... Not burnt, heat should be fairly low. rinse your cup of beans.
4. Add beans into the pot once alliums are caramelized and then add your broth and 1/4 cup of water. Add in chicken and ham hock, make sure your liquid is just about covering the chicken, if its far from it, add a bit more water, if its just barely covering- Thats OK you can rotate the leg 1/2 way through cooking.
5. Leave pot uncovered and simmer for anywhere between 50-120 minutes. You are waiting for the beans to get soft and the chicken to be super tender and fall off the bone. Once the beans are soft and the chicken is tender, add in your vinegar and simmer for another 15 minutes.
6. Take your chicken and ham hock out, pull your chicken and place the chicken back in the pot. mix the chicken into the brothy bean mixture, and season with salt and pepper to your liking!
Discard the ham hock or do whatever you please with it, but i would not advise eating it, its really just for a smokier flavor to the broth.
Serving notes:
You can serve this with a 6-minute egg on top, and some grated pecorino, which is what I did, as well as some fresh herbs, which as I said, they were definitely missing in mine. You can also add any sort of wilted green like kale, or spinach to this and it would also be fabulous. Enjoy!!!
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