Mama Pilla's North Carolina Green Beans

How lucky am I to have a mom who can cook, she is a huge source of amazing meals and ideas! My mom was born and raised in North Carolina surrounded by many people who loved food and cooking. There was my great aunt Rachael lived down the street from my mom who grew nearly all of her own produce (with Uncle Tom) she always had fresh squash and tomatoes when we went to visit, there was also Aunt Ruth who made hundreds of jars of jellies and jams each year, and finally my grandmother Neal who made the best buttermilk biscuits ever. Since my mom has lived in Northern Virginia for over 30 years now, her culinary skills have expanded far from her native roots-she can create anything in her kitchen that her palette dreams up.

Growing up my mom would make these southern style green beans several times a week over the summer, they are so good and easy and are perfect with bounty of beans that summer has to offer. I remember helping my mom snap the beans on our deck a few hours before dinner, she would dump a huge pile of beans on the table and whomever was around pulled up a chair to help clean the beans.

Mom used to make these beans in a large pot on the stove, now she has discovered that it is even easier to put them in the crock pot and let them simmer all day long. This is exactly what I did this past Thursday, early in the morning I sat out on the front porch with a huge pile of beans, the paper, and a colander and snapped a couple pounds (literally they are that good, you need at least one pound!) for dinner that evening.




Mama Pilla's North Carolina Green Beans

Ingredients
A huge pile of green beans (not the ones that are already bagged and cleaned--these could work but I like the act of snapping and cleaning the beans and the conversation that goes with it)
A piece of salt pork
Water, enough to cover the beans in the crock pot
pepper

Place the beans, pork salt, pepper and water in the crock pot on low for 6-9 hours.

I served the beans with the chicken and rice pilaf from Clarke Style Indian Night (I used chicken breasts this time and it was amazing!!)