corona beans + duck bacon

when invited to celebrate thanksgiving with a friend's family, including family members who do not partake of pork or shellfish, i was hard-pressed to come up with a delicious cajun-inspired side dish sans pork and sans shellfish. but then while wandering around Southern Season, i stumbled across duck bacon, which i paired with a sweet white bean. delicious!

ingredients:

  • 12 oz. dry sweet white runner beans (a.k.a corona beans), rinsed
  • 5-7 strips duck bacon, cut into one inch pieces prior to frying (recommended: D'Artgnan Duck Bacon)
  • 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
  • 1 medium sweet yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 small sweet red or orange bell pepper of 1/2 of a large pepper, chopped
  • 1-2 fresh fresno, jalapeño, or cayenne peppers, chopped*
  • 7 cloves of garlic, sliced
  • 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
  • 4 tsp. sea salt
  • 1-2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper*
  • 1/4 tsp. dry ground cayenne pepper*
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
  • 5-6 cups of water
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 1 heaping tsp. chicken Better than Bouillon (BtB)
  • *i recommend 1 fresno or jalapeño pepper for the standard recipe, if you want cajun heat, use 1-2 cayennes according to your preference. 

preparation:

  1. preheat oven to 350F.
  2. fry the 1-inch pieces of duck bacon in a cast-iron dutch oven on the stove top at medium/medium-high heat until a light brown residue forms on the bottom of the dutch oven. 
  3. add unsalted butter, onion, bell pepper, fresh pepper, garlic, dry mustard, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder to bacon in dutch oven. stir until vegetables begin to wilt.
  4. add washed beans, 5 cups of water, apple cider vinegar, BtB, and bay leaves. stir well.
  5. bring mixture to a boil and boil beans for 3-5 minutes. stir occasionally to get rid of foam that forms from boiling beans.  
  6. cover beans and transfer to oven. cook/bake beans for 3 hours.*
  7. check on the beans every hour to ensure there is sufficient water--beans should always be covered. uncooked beans will remain white as the cooked beans turn a pale, flesh color. stir the beans during these checks and add water as needed. 5 cups may be enough, and you may not have to add water. but, you'll probably have to add a cup or two as the beans absorb the water. it also depends on how much sauce you'd like with your beans. if you'd like a thick sauce, after the beans are cooked, take a cup of beans, mash them, and stir the mashed beans back into the other beans.

*beans will be tender, but not mushy -- if you cook them in the dutch oven in the oven.  the texture of the beans from cooking in the dutch oven in the oven is quite wonderful. but, if you're stubborn (as i can be, too) and insist on cooking the beans atop a stove or in a slow cooker, the amount of water needed and cooking time may vary -- plus, your beans will be softer & mushier.