Later On

From the earlier post on New Year’s recipes, I’m making this one:

White Beans With Pig’s Feet

• 1 pound dried white beans
• 2 pig’s feet, split down the middle
• 1 10-ounce can plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped, with their juice [I used around a pound of fresh Roma tomatoes, chopped. - LG]
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons butter
• Coarse salt to taste
• 1/2 cup dried bread crumbs

Rinse the beans with cold water and pick them over carefully. Put them in a heavy casserole with water to cover. Add the pig’s feet and the tomatoes. Season with pepper, cover, and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours or until cooked, adding more water if necessary. Set aside until 30 minutes before serving.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Stir the parsley, garlic, 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, and salt into the beans. Sprinkle with bread crumbs, dot with remaining butter and heat through uncovered until sizzling.

Note: The beans may also be heated on top of the stove. Omit the breadcrumbs. This dish goes well with roast lamb.recipes

I’ll be interested to see how this turns out. The beans are not soaked prior to cooking, and I know that works, but generally you don’t cook fat or acid with the beans, since it tends to make them tough.

UPDATE: The beans cooked all right, but it’s a terribly bland dish. Should have sautéed some chopped onion and chopped green pepper and a jalapeño or two and some chopped parsley at the outset, and cooked the beans and pig’s feet with that included. Today I’ll add stuff to rescue the dish. The topping may have helped, but I skipped that.

UPDATE 2: Rescue successful! I added:

1/2 large Spanish onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 bunch parsley, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp Mexican oregano
1/4 c chipotle pepper sauce (a local brand)—Sriracha would work
dash liquid smoke
good dash soy sauce

I added a little more water, brought it to the simmer and simmered uncovered for quite a while.Then I scooped some into a bowl and noticed immediately that the additional cooking time had been a BIG help—they needed more cooking in the first place, probably 2.5 hours instead of 1.5. It’s done when the pig’s feet are simply falling apart.

I let it cool, squeezed half a Meyer lemon over the top, and ate the whole bowl. It was delicious! So add those things at the beginning—or perhaps 30 minutes before done.

UPDATE 3: Even better than a Meyer lemon is shredded Parmesan sprinkled over the bowlful.