Beans and Cornbread Recipe
The recipe for making beans and cornbread recipe is very simple. The grainy texture, crispy outside, and soft tender inside make this cornbread perfect to go with any beans. It’s a little bit of a time-taking recipe.
Ingredients
For Beans
- 1 lb dried pinto beans
- Cold water
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 smoked ham hock (about 10-12 ounces)
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 1 dried bay leaf
- 1 fresh thyme sprig (or about ½ teaspoon dried thyme)
- Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- Optional, for serving: chopped fresh herbs (such as thyme or cilantro), chopped raw onion, chow-chow, sour cream, or grated cheese
For Cornbread
- 2 cups white or yellow self-rising cornmeal mix (not plain cornmeal)
- 2 eggs (or 1 extra-large egg)
- 1 ½ cups 1 ½ cups whole buttermilk, well shaken
- ¼ cup (½ of a stick) salted butter, melted (use unsalted butter if you prefer a less-salty cornbread)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or bacon grease, for coating the skillet
Instructions
For Cornbread
- Take a 10-inch cast iron skillet and preheat it in the oven up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Mix cornmeal, buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter properly.
- Grease a hot skillet and pour the above mixture into it.
- Bake it until it gets turned into golden brown bread at the top. Insert a toothpick in it to check if it’s completely cooked or not. Clean toothpicks come out to ensure that the cornbread is properly baked.
For Beans
- Take dried beans and soak them overnight. Remove water from the beans and rinse.
- Put drained beans in a cooker. Also, add broth, celery, garlic, bay leaf, onion, thyme, ham hock, and black pepper as per taste. Add cold water unless all the beans are submerged in it.
- Close the lid of the cooker pot and cook it on the stove for 4 to 5 hours or until beans become soft and tender. Sprinkle salt as well to make the taste of beans mesmerizing.
- Remove bay leaf, thyme sprig, and ham hock from the cooked beans pot. Take a potato masher or a hard spoon to mash all the beans.
- Mix all the ingredients of cornbread and make a batter. Pour it into a baking pot and bake it for an hour.
- Dish out the beans in a bowl. Serve beans along with cornbread as healthy delicious dipping.
Nutrition
Calories: 497kcal