white beans........and nothing fancy!

this is so damn simple it's stupid....but so dang good. So cook yourself up a big pot of these and some corn bread, that is a must. And enjoy this dish. If I can find my camera I'll post the photo.

Now a bit of history......while living in South Florida over here of the pretty side of the side, and for those of you that don't know that's the Gulf side. While living here we started attending a event called the Swamp Buggy races in Naples, FL. Well you go and tailgate, stay in your motorhomes, cause it's a three day event. It is fun......great family fun for kids too. Anyway the first year we were not intending to eat at the motorhomes, and about 8 of us were deciding on a dinner spot, something simple and casual of course. I mentioned that I saw a place on the way in, just down the road and it was crowded for lunch so it must be good. Looked like a locals place and those are always better.

Well we went to Cracklin Jacks - and to say it was good was an understatement. All of their evening meals are served family style with a bunch a side dishes. One of them is the white beans. Now when you say white beans to me it sounds bland. I was offered some and had one bite I was convinced this is a darned good way to prepare white beans.

We had the good fortune of passing by Cracklin Jacks the other day and I asked them again how the beans were made and the waitress sent out the owner. She heard we were leaving the area so she came out to say thanks and to tell me, very generally I might add, how they cook the beans. I was quite surprised as will all our other friends be when we all get together this summer and I serve them the famous Crackin Jack's white beans.

Ingredients

1 lb white beans .... your choice
or one large can of cannelini beans
a ham hock , shredded finely to add to the beans
chicken broth 14 oz box, low sodium
1 medium onion - chopped in small chunks - I used vidalia sweet onions
Crystal Hot Sauce.........that got your attention huh lil bird

Here is the method

Cook the beans the way you normally would.......I didn't have time to cook fresh so I opened the can. If using the canned do not rinse. Saute the onions in a bit of oil, when finish sauteing add a couple of splashes of the Crystal hot sauce, add onions to the beans. Cook the ham hock in the chicken broth until the meat falls off the bone. I happened to have one already cooked, shredded the meat and added about a 1/4 cup to the bean mixture and a bit of the broth the ham was cooked in. Heat thoroughly, adjust seasonings, do not add salt because some ham can be quite salty. Careful with that hot sauce, the dish tastes just like hmmm what is that heat in this?

And if you do try this please say a thank you to Margaret at Cracklin Jacks, cause she did not have to tell me how to do this and I did tell her I was going to post it.