Southern Green Beans, Ham & Potatoes

I love homemade ham & green beans with potatoes, served with a skillet of cornbread and sweet tea! For this recipe, I took two "soul-food" recipes I had and combined them to come up with this one. It's just the way I like it. You can adjust the amounts of ingredients to your own taste. If I use ham hocks, I usually only add one or two slices of bacon for added flavor, just because I like bacon flavor. But if I don't have ham hocks, I use 4- 6 slices of bacon.

• Ready In: 2 hrs
• Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1 -2  ham hock
• 1 -6  slice bacon (raw)
• 2  onions, coarsely sliced
• 2  teaspoons salt
• 1 -2  teaspoon sugar
• 1  teaspoon garlic, to taste
• 1⁄4-1⁄2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1  tablespoon parsley (optional)
• 2 -3  lbs fresh green beans
• 1  lb potato, quartered, peeled

Directions

1. Place ham hock and bacon in large Dutch oven pot or soup pot; cover with water.
2. Bring to a rapid boil.
3. Turn burner to medium to medium-high and let it come to a medium boil.
4. Add the sliced onion.
5. Let this cook while you wash and snap your beans (about an hour or more).
6. Wash beans, cut off ends and break in half.
7. Add beans, salt, sugar, garlic, pepper and parsley to the ham hocks.
8. Let it come to a boil, then turn burner to medium, to medium-low.
9. Let it slow boil for about an hour or more or less, depending on how well you like your beans cooked.
10. About 15-20 minutes before done, add your potatoes.
11. Boil until tender.