Here’s an nice recipe to use when you don’t want to spend that much time in the kitchen. Just prep everything, throw it in your slow-cooker, and come back in a couple of hours. Serve it with a side of collard greens.
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Slow-Cooker Beans with Ham Hocks and Collards
Ingredients
Scale
- 1/2 to 1 lb dry beans
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1–2 packs ham hocks
- 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
- 2 minced garlic cloves
- 1 tomato, chopped
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 3 1/2 cups water
Instructions
For the Beans
- Soak the beans overnight. Put the following ingredients (dry beans, vegetable oil, ham hocks, onion, garlic cloves, tomato, brown sugar, Dijon mustard, water) into a slow cooker on high for 2-3 hours.
- Or simmer on low heat for an hour or two in a pot. Add 1 teaspoon of coarse salt after the beans are finished (otherwise the salt will affect the way the beans cook)!
For the Blanched Collards
- In a large pot over high heat, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon salt. Add the collards and cook, uncovered, for 8 to 10 minutes, until softened. Meanwhile, prepare a large bowl of ice water to cool the collards.
- Remove the collards from the heat, drain, and plunge them into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking and set the color of the greens. Drain by gently pressing the greens against a colander.
- In a medium-size sauté pan, combine the olive oil and the garlic and raise the heat to medium. Sauté for 1 minute. Add the collards and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Sauté for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.