Speckled Butterbeans and Cornbread: They Go Hand in Hand
Speckled butterbeans aren’t very pretty, but they’re packed with fiber and protein, and they taste good if you cook them with the right stuff.
Cornbread is beautiful, but nothing about it is particularly nutritious. It tastes amazing all the time no matter what.
The combination of speckled jalapeno butterbeans baked under a thick crust of sweet fluffy cornbread, served on a lazy summer afternoon with roast pork or some good barbecue, is probably what British songwriter Martin Page was really talking about that time he said he was going to “the house of stone and light.” Because we all know it isn’t really about a house. It’s symbolic. There is no house. There’s a good chance that whole song is just about eating a lot of cornbread and beans. This is probably also true of Three Dog Night’s “Shambala” and the Doobie Brothers’ “Jesus is Just Alright.”
Note: The cornbread recipe comes from QC Tester.
Speckled Butterbeans with Sweet Cornbread
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 jalapeno pepper, diced
- 1-lb bag frozen speckled butterbeans
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
- 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour or all-purpose flour
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cups unsweetened almond milk (or whatever milk)
- 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- Olive oil
- Preheat oven to 425F.
- In a medium saucepan, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat and saute the onion and pepper for 2 minutes. Add the beans and broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 25 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the almond milk, vinegar, and 3 Tbsp olive oil. Stir until just combined.
- When the beans are ready, transfer them to an oven-safe skillet (nonstick or lightly oiled) and spread them evenly on the bottom. Pour cornbread batter evenly over the beans. You can spread it around gently after pouring, but don’t pour all the batter in the middle and then try to spread it around, because it’ll push all the beans out to the edges.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until cornbread begins to turn golden around the edges. Allow to stand 10 minutes before serving.
Serving suggestion: This music video is the perfect accompaniment when dining on speckled butterbeans and cornbread. Plus it’s full of other great ideas to round out your beans-and-cornbread meal. Pigs’ feet, yeah. Red Kool-aid. Bacon! Ham!
