Black Beans and Ham

This is kinda a take-off of Brazilian black beans, I had them at a restaurant once and was blown away from the taste. This is a great recipe, especially now with the lockdown situation, it costs very little and can easily be a complete meal with some rice. I use what they call a “ham end” in my recipe, it is a super cheap cut since it is mostly just bone and can really only be used for soup or something like that, because of this it isn’t in high demand and that keeps the cost low. you can use dry black beans, of course, I just happen to have a bunch of canned black beans, they are much faster to use that way. I tried a similar recipe to what I had in that restaurant at home and this is what I came up with.

Ingredients:

Black beans, 2 cans

Ham (either a small chunk with bone, like I used, this is called a “ham end” and can be found in a butcher shop or some groceries) you can also get pre-packaged cubed.

2 tbsp dry white wine

2 cloves of garlic

medium onion, diced

2 bay leaves

1 cup water

small amount of oil

Dice your onions and add them to the bottom of your pan with about a tablespoon or two of oil. crush your garlic with your knife blade and dice up and add to your pot, stir in with your onions until they are all slightly golden. Next put your ham in, since I used a ham end I didn’t dice mine up yet or anything, just put it in the bottom of the pan and then added the black beans on top. Add the rest of your ingredients and simmer on low covered for about a half an hour.

This is the ham end I used. It says not for resale because it came with the pig I bought. It’s a great idea to keep pieces like this with bone in your freezer in case you need to make broth.

If you are using ham on the bone, remove after that time and set aside to cool for just a few minutes before you cut it off. Start tasting! Ham can be really salty so more than likely you won’t need to add any salt, but be sure to taste it for salt and other seasonings that may need to be added.