2For66

Cook date: February 28, 2024

While this recipe breaks both of my personal bean cooking rules it is an excellent dish that can be vegetarian (though I cheated a bit and used some chicken stock).

I am a bit fussy about beans. First, I like them on the small side: limas are a hard out for me. And, adding large red kidney beans to chili? Uh Uh; not at all; whereas small red beans in red beans and rice are fantastic.

Second, beans have to be cooked in some way that brings in other flavors. According to the owner of Rancho Gordo, the best way to eat beans is cooked in a water with a bit of salt. He argues that cooking them that way brings out the true bean flavor. Although I buy many of my beans from Rancho Gordo, I don’t always use their recipes.

When I found this NY Times recipe it looked like it met my criteria for a tasty bean dish. [The first 10 people who use that link will be able to access the recipe]. I decided I could make a couple of additions to make the dish even better. I went to the pantry to grab some beans (the recipe tells us we can use any combination of brown, white, and black beans). Uh oh, no Rancho Grodo pintos; I had to get a different brand.

At first site hose Ayocote Blanco Beans are a bit suspect – they break rule number one. When I saw them online I didn’t realize they were on the large end of the bean spectrum. I hadn’t used them in any other recipe but the they did fine here. We need a pound of beans so I took some from each bag, picked out any dirt or stones (there were none) and rinsed.

I gathered the supporting characters. The recipe calls for just water as the liquid, but I figured two cups of homemade chicken stock would be nice. The greens are rosemary and sage which will be sautéd and serve as a topping.

The beans go into the bean pot (I used a pressure cooker) with the parmesan rinds, salt, pepper, bay leaves, and thyme sprigs. I did 16 minutes in my electric pressure cooker then let them simmer a bit longer. If cooked on the stove, bring them to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until tender, adding hot water along the way if needed It could take over 2 hours depending on the beans you use. The beans should be very tender when you are done.

While the beans are cooking start working on the toppings. Strip the rosemary leaves from the stems; the sage leaves are fine whole.

Heat olive oil in a small pan then add the rosemary and sage to sauté and drain on a paper towel on a large plate. I let mine cook just a bit too long; so when it looks like they are a bit shy of being done, take them out.

Looking in the refrigerator I saw I had a few slices of prosciutto. I diced it up and sautéd that as well. This pushes the dish well into carnivore territory.

When the beans are done, prepare the bowls. Put a pat of butter in the bottom of the serving bowl and add a few olives. The recipe calls for oil-cured black olives – which I couldn’t find. I figured some pitted Kalamatas would do just as well if not better.

Add a nice helping of beans and some broth; top with the shredded parmesan cheese, sautéed rosemary and sage, and sautéd prosciutto. [Because I burned the herbs, they didn’t make it into my bowl]. Dinner is served. A nice crusty bread makes a wonderful accompaniment. [I admit, I shudder at the phrase “crusty bread”; it’s a bit of a cliché. But it really does help the dish.]

Wow this is nice. The recipe calls for drizzling some olive oil over the top; since I was using prosciutto I refrained. The olives are about the same size as the beans and when you get one in your spoon then your mouth what a pleasant, salty surprise. This is good stuff.

Rating: ★★★★ 4 Stars. And definitely more healthy than the (also delicious) frito pie which was my last cooking post.