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| Chicken and Butter Beans - smothered chicken cooked in a roux with baby lima beans, pictured here with creamed brussels sprouts. |
Chicken and Butter Beans
I have been busier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs y'all!! We have the grandkids everyday now after school - which I love, love, love, don't get me wrong. Since our move to be closer to them six months ago, we have seen and spent more time with them from since they were born. It isn't that we were all that far away from them to begin with, but where we did live was off the beaten path and far enough away to be inconvenient for everybody. It does leave me with a small window of time in the mornings to get everything done though, and believe me, it goes by quick! I suppose that some of you moms know exactly what I mean.Along with that, some of you know that I am (finally) working on publishing my first cookbook that so many of you have been asking me to do for years. It's exciting to be able to bring the website here to life in the form of a book you can hold in your hands, but it takes a lot of behind the scenes work to birth that process. I always wanted the process to be authentic and happen organically, as everything else at Deep South Dish has, and I am thrilled and honored to be working with the publisher who discovered me. I'll reveal more about that on down the line of course, but look for the Deep South Dish cookbook to arrive in your favorite stores and online at places like Amazon, in early spring of 2015, yay!
I'm still cooking, of course, and writing new recipes. You'll see a few of those as cookbook exclusives, but much of what I'm cooking are things that are already here on the site, or easy pressure cooker and slow cooker recipes. Over the weekend I pressure cooked a whole chicken, roasted a turkey breast and made my favorite pot roast. My hope was that having those leftovers will hold off The Cajun for a few days so I can get some work done! I don't know though - I walked through the family room yesterday and caught him with a plate full of the chicken and a side of several slices of white bread, eating it, like a caveman, with his hands! He is definitely a meat-eater.
So, anyway... while we're heading into a fall chill later this week even here in the Deep South, I think I'll sneak in a great comfort food dish that we love. This is a popular dish in my part of the world, with some variations, as usual, among families. It's basically a smothered chicken, stewed in a roux with baby lima beans.
Here in the Deep South, butter beans often means the larger lima beans, so you'll see this prepared sometimes with those. I prefer the smaller baby lima beans here, also known around the South as butter beans. They're both butter beans y'all and either will work here. Sometimes the prep of the chicken is varied, but this is the way I prepare the dish. By the way, simply cooking butter beans alone in the roux all on their own, without the chicken, in the same manner we prepare our Creamed Peas, is an excellent and popular dish here too.
Here's how I make Chicken and Butter Beans and as always, the full recipe with measurements and instructions, along with a pin button and printable document are past the step-by-step pictures. Just scroll to the bottom of this tutorial.
Add the oil to a large Dutch oven or pot, and slowly stir in flour a little at a time, preparing a medium-brown roux.
Add the chopped onion to the roux and cook, stirring constantly for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute.
Slowly stir in the chicken stock until fully incorporated, bring to a boil. Add the lima beans, worcestershire, thyme and basil and return to a boil. Stir, reduce heat to a very low simmer - the key here is a bare simmer, not a boil - and slow cook them for about 20 minutes, stirring several times.
Season chicken on both sides with salt, pepper and Cajun seasoning. Heat oil in a large skillet and brown chicken in batches on both sides.
Transfer chicken to the bean pot, deglaze the skillet with a splash of water and pour pan drippings into the bean pot. Continue cooking on a low simmer for about another 45 minutes to one hour, stirring occasionally, OR until chicken is completely cooked through, beans are soft and liquid is thickened. Stir in the green onion and parsley, taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Serve over hot rice.
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Recipe: Chicken and Butter Beans (Smothered Chicken and Baby Limas)
©From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish
Prep time: 15 min |Cook time: 1 hour 20 min | Yield: About 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
Instructions
- 1/2 cup of cooking oil
- 1 cup of all-purpose flour
- 1 cup of chopped onion
- 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
- 6 cups of chicken stock or broth
- 1 (28 ounce) bag of frozen green baby lima beans
- 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon of dried basil
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1 (3 to 4 pound) whole fryer, cut up
- Kosher salt, freshly cracked black pepper and Cajun seasoning, to taste
- 1 green onion, sliced
- 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley
Add the oil to a large Dutch oven or pot, and slowly stir in flour a little at a time, preparing a medium-brown roux. Add the chopped onion to the roux and cook, stirring constantly for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute. Slowly stir in the chicken stock until fully incorporated, bring to a boil. Add the lima beans, worcestershire, thyme and basil and return to a boil. Stir, reduce heat to a very low simmer and slow cook them for about 20 minutes, stirring several times.
Season chicken on both sides with salt, pepper and Cajun seasoning. Heat oil in a large skillet and brown chicken in batches on both sides. Transfer chicken to the bean pot, deglaze the skillet with a splash of water and pour pan drippings into the bean pot. Continue cooking on a low simmer for about another 45 minutes to one hour, stirring occasionally, or until chicken is completely cooked through, beans are soft and liquid is thickened. Stir in the green onion and parsley, taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Serve over hot rice.
Butter Beans in Roux: Omit chicken and prepare roux as above, adding in two packages of baby lima beans. Cook beans until tender and serve over rice.
Shrimp and Butter Beans: Omit chicken and prepare beans as above. Peel and devein 2 pounds of small shrimp and season generously with Old Bay, lemon pepper and Creole or Cajun seasoning. Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a skillet. Chop 1/4 pound andouille or tasso and cook in the butter until lightly browned. Add shrimp, cooking and stirring until pink and no longer translucent. Remove from heat. Stir into thickened butter beans with green onion and parsley. Let rest for 5 minutes.
Source: http://deepsouthdish.com
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©Deep South Dish
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