By One week to Thanksgiving. I have been cooking in preparation mode since Tuesday: turkey brined, stock made from the neck and giblets, cornbread baked and crumbled for the dressing, the butter for the rolls softening on the counter. This is how a proper Thanksgiving begins — days ahead, in stages, so that on Thursday itself you are finishing rather than starting.
Shanice called on Saturday and asked if she could make her grandmother's oxtails as an additional dish. I said yes immediately. I said, Shanice, this is your table too. If you want to bring your grandmother's oxtails to Thanksgiving you bring them. She said she wasn't sure if it fit, culinarily. I said, we have cornbread dressing and macaroni and green bean casserole and sweet potato casserole all on the same table, which is a Southern Thanksgiving, and smothered oxtails belongs in that company. She laughed and said, all right, and I could hear her being pleased.
The table count this year: twelve. CJ and Shanice, Destiny and Travis, Carolyn, Deon and his wife, Darnell and Paulette Carter, Tamara, and James. James is coming. He called last week and said Dorothy's recovery is going well and she told him to go to Tuscaloosa for Thanksgiving and eat something good, and he should listen to Dorothy on matters of this kind. He should listen to Dorothy on most matters, honestly, which is part of why the marriage has worked. I am setting a place for him and I am putting him at the head of the table because he is the oldest Simms at this dinner and that is the right place for the oldest Simms.
When I think about what holds a Thanksgiving table together — really holds it — it is the quiet dishes, the ones that don’t announce themselves but disappear first. Green beans and ham is that dish for me. With twelve at the table this year, Shanice’s oxtails coming in, the dressing already crumbled and waiting, I needed something reliable and deeply savory alongside it all — something that would sit comfortably next to every other dish without competing. This is the recipe I come back to every year, and it has never once let me down.
Green Beans and Ham
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 55 minutes | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 2 lbs fresh green beans, trimmed and snapped
- 1 lb smoked ham hock or diced smoked ham
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 cups chicken broth or water
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Sauté aromatics. In a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook for 4–5 minutes until softened. Add the minced garlic and stir for another minute until fragrant.
- Add ham and broth. Add the ham hock or diced smoked ham to the pot. Pour in the chicken broth, then add the black pepper, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes if using. Bring to a boil.
- Add the green beans. Add the trimmed green beans to the pot and stir to combine. The liquid should come about halfway up the beans; add a splash more broth or water if needed.
- Simmer low and slow. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 35–40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the beans are very tender and have absorbed the smoky flavor of the ham. Taste and adjust salt as needed.
- Finish and serve. If using a ham hock, remove it, pull any usable meat from the bone, and stir that meat back into the pot. Serve hot, straight from the pot, with plenty of the pot likker spooned over the top.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 160 | Protein: 12g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 11g | Fiber: 4g | Sodium: 620mg