Even though most of my adult life I lived on the West Coast, I spent my early years in Georgia before Delta Airlines transferred me to LA and I met The Man. Best move of my life… but I digress… growing up in The South is filled with traditions that include cooking. My gramma Lillie Mae and my mom taught me to how to cook, rarely measuring ingredients but winging it by taste… which means I’ll never be able to create a cookbook… but again… I digress…
This week, Comte representative, Denise Kazmier, sent me a wedge of Comte along with an apron and promotional information about one of France’s iconic cheeses. Comte is a favorite around The Manse and featured twice at our Blue Haven Bee Company Wine and CheeseTastings. Luckily, here in NE Georgia where specialty cheese isn’t easily found, Costco is only 60 miles away and… ta da… carries Comte…
For the Fourth of July, I wanted to make traditional Southern dishes and that usually includes Lima Beans. I considered mac n cheese, featured at every pot luck dinner ever attended in The South. I decided to check out the Comte website for recipes for mac n cheese. There wasn’t one (hey, Denise, you need to get one) but I did discover a Comte take on the classic Southern Green Bean Casserole. We don’t eat green beans because Miss Anne hated green beans and in honor of her memory, green beans are still banned at The Manse. But, we do eat lima beans so I decided to adapt the recipe.
And the finished dish was not your (or my) mama’s lima beans (which is traditionally cooked to death in salty water with bacon and butter). The Man swooned and so did I… here’s what I did:
Ingredients:
Lima Beans, about 2 Cups
Homemade Chicken Stock
EVOO
2 Vidalia Onions, sliced thin
8 Ounces button mushrooms, sliced
4 Ounces Comte – shredded, divided
Flour
Preparation:
Turn oven to broil.
Combine lima beans and chicken stock in a small sauce pan and bring to boil. Then simmer until crunchy tender, about 35 minutes.
While the beans are cooking heat a little EVOO, enough to saute the thinkly sliced onions and mushrooms. Saute until browned well around the edges.
Once lima beans are cooked, drain, reserving stock.
Add beans to onion and mushrooms and stir together.
Sprinkle with flour and stir until coated well. Add enough stock to make a slurry. Add half of the Comte and stir together.
Top lima bean mixture with rest of Comte.
Broil until bubbly and golden brown.
Let cool for a couple of minutes; serve warm.
Taking the 2018 ACS CCP Exam – it’s not too late to join our Facebook Study Group. And check out the sample questions here on this website, under the Cheese Study Group tab above.
Save the date – but make your reservations today – almost sold out – Bastille Day Wine and Cheese Tasting at Blue Haven Bee Company in Canon. All French cheeses supplied by Swiss American. Our thanks to Tara Sabatini ACS CCP and BeBops Bakery in Royston who is providing the Baguettes, Macarons and French Truffles.
Contact Brianna at Blue Haven Bee Company: 706 245 6586 or brianna @ bluehavenbee. But don’t wait; we’re almost sold out. $45 per person and includes your own French Beret. We’ll be celebrating in the new meadery and tasting the new mead and French wines plus an adult icee.
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