Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Shell Beans and Summer Vegetables Stew with Cornbread

Fresh, local vegetables inspired a southern vegetarian meal that started with watermelon margaritas and fried okra. For the main course, I turned once again to the book Local Flavors in which Deborah Madison creates a summer vegetable stew that combined all the local vegetables I had on hand. The stew also incorporates fresh shell beans which are beans that are too large to be eaten in their pods and not yet fully dried. Some typical shell beans are borlotti, white runner beans, and cranberry beans, and soybeans and purple-hull beans can be eaten this way too. Purple-hull beans are a common Texas crop, and they’re available right now in their fresh form. Shell beans do not require soaking and cook in about 30 to 40 minutes. With my CSA vegetables, locally grown beans, and homegrown herbs, I had what I needed for a summer stew.

Sticking with the southern theme, cornbread was a natural to go with the stew, and this was a great excuse to use my cast-iron corn stick mold. My Mom gave this pan to me a couple of years ago, and I hadn’t gotten around to using it, but I love it because it’s something I have in common with Jacques Pepin. In Chez Jacques, in the story about fried chicken and cornbread, he describes a cast-iron cornbread mold with seven corn-shaped indentations which is exactly like mine. So, he wrote a recipe for cornbread that makes just enough batter to fill that mold, but he admits he sometimes has extra that he bakes separately in a small pan. I followed his recipe which interestingly involved separating eggs, frothing egg whites, and then folding them into the batter. I ended up with a little more batter than I needed and baked a small square of cornbread in addition to the molded sticks.

Preparing the stew was a simple process of adding the vegetables in the correct order for cooking times and seasoning each layer as it was added. To begin, olive oil was warmed in a Dutch oven over low heat, and bay leaves from my struggling to survive tree were added. Then big chunks of onions and halved garlic cloves were added with thyme sprigs and sage leaves. That was covered and left to cook while the rest of the vegetables were cleaned and chopped. Then, carrots were added followed by potatoes and then green beans. Big strips of bell pepper and thick pieces of pattypan squash went on top of all of that, and last but not least were tomatoes with their juices. That was all left to simmer for about an hour while the purple-hull beans cooked with some garlic and thyme. When the shell beans were cooked, they were added with their cooking liquid to the stew. A quick basil pesto was made to garnish each serving of stew.

Given how little effort went into the layering and simmering of the stew, the resulting flavor was surprisingly good. The herbs had mingled their way through the sauce of the stew and gave it a richness I didn’t expect. The low heat allowed the vegetables to retain their shape and some texture, and the garlic had mellowed to a nice state. By stirring the basil pesto into the bowl of stew, a sharper, brighter herb and garlic flavor was added. It was a fresh, warm bowl of summer, and it couldn’t have asked for better company than the cornbread.



35 comments:

  1. mmm.. looks so refreshing and light for a 'stew'. even with the pesto, the dish looks so clean--love it! and i also love corn pones! need to get me one of them pans.

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  2. Pone! Just like my mom used to make. I'm once again impressed. And hungry. The stew looks brilliant.

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  3. Purple hulls! I love purple hull peas, crowders, butter peas, etc. Definitely a southern boy. This stew looks fantastic. Separating the eggs is an interesting technique for cornbread. Does the recipe include sugar? Southern cornbread typically doesn't, while northern typically does.

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  4. Bill: Pepin's recipe called for 2T sugar, but I reduced it to a pinch.

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  5. Looks great. I love the cornbread corn.

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  6. Local Flavors is one of my favorite cookbooks - and I talked Deborah into bringing a copy of the out-of-print-and-unavailable hardback copy to the SSE convention, so now I actually have two copies. Excessive, I know, especially since they're identical except for the binding, but... they're both signed so I hate to part with one. I know, I know... I've been cooking a lot out of the book (made the white pizza with homemade mozzarella last weekend -- go try it!). Your photos here are lovely -- and there's nothing happier than Dutch Oven cooking!

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  7. I want that mold! Heck with my cast iron addiction surprised I do not already own it.

    Nice stew and way to use up the CSA bag.

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  8. Definitely want that cornbread mold. We haven't seen cornbread like that in soooooo long. Yum.

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  9. Healthy, tasty and colorful! A wonderful meal!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  10. Mmm...cornbread is something I definitely have to make. I love the mold you use to shape them. I remember seeing something like that once. I was tempted by buy it.

    Matches really well with the stew. Very summery with all those vegetables. I love the colors too. It's so inviting right now.

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  11. this looks delicious and I'd need something like this to counter act what I am sure would be total lack of self control over your previous post.

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  12. WOW! Corn bread & a colourful stew, life is beautiful!

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  13. I love those cornbread stix from that cool mold (which I don't have!).
    Nice summer stew.

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  14. That Deborah Madison! You can always count on her. I LOVE fresh shell beans and they haven't quite come into season here yet. I plan to buy a huge amount of them this year and store them in the freezer. I love having them on hand and I also love how quick they are to prepare. How cute is that cornbread mold?

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  15. This is terrific! I like this dish very much! :) stylish too!

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  16. I call that a 'corn pone pan' dont ask me why - but I dont have one and I always look at them and resist the temptation to put another 5 pound cast iron specific to one thing pan on my shelf - but believe you me before the dust is settled I will own one!

    Nice stew!

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  17. Oh, this brings me back to my North Carolina days. Looks delicious, darlin'!

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  18. Hehe what a cute corn mold! I've seen those and always thought they were the most delightful way to serve cornbread :)

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  19. I've never seen such a beautiful bowl of stew! The colors, flavors and textures are so appealing! Love the cornbread sticks - they almost look like cookies.

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  20. Everything looks absolutely delicious! The stew is such a winner in my book!

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  21. oh wow...that, right there, is THE perfect meal. Fresh vegetables, and warm cornbread that is moulded in cast-iron! AWESOME!

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  22. I am so impressed by this:
    1-your veggies kept all the beautiful colour
    2-that little cornbread is just so cute.

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  23. The veggie stew is beautiful, sounds just delicious, and I love the cute shape of the corn bread!

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  24. I'm loving the stew, but what I am really loving are those cornbread sticks! Where can I get me a mold like that? That is awesome!

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  25. I love how hearty that is, but still so healthy. It sounds wonderful, and I am a corn bread fanatic. So you won me over with that :)

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  26. a veritable rainbow--i love it! if only all dishes had soo many tastes and textures. really nice dish, lisa--way to make use of the summer's bounty!

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  27. Sounds a very healthy stew, never made corn bread before : ) yours looks good.

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  28. Love the idea of the light veggie stew.. so wholesome. But what i am craving now (after we had some corn jalapeno bread last week in a mexican restaurant) is some corn bread. Yummy!

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  29. vat a perfect veggie stew!! i love the color combo.. beautifu!! just beyond impressive!!
    cheers!!

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  30. I could happily make an entire meal of just those cornbread sticks. That wouldn't be wrong, would it? ;)

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  31. Love the color on this vegetable stew. making it more appealing. YUM!

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  32. I love this veg stew. Healthy and delish! And I love the cornbreads. I think this dish just screams out to be served with cornbread!

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  33. Stew looks so colorful and healthy, love idea of using veggies!

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  34. What a beautiful veggies stew, and such the perfect way to take advantage of all the lovely summer produce! I really want that pan you used for the cornbread too - too cute!

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