Food, Photography and Bon Mots
When I was a young cook, three-bean salad (sold in a glass jar no less!) was a go-to dish in my repertoire. (My cooking goals were pretty modest then.) This black bean and corn salad is a nod to that original bean salad and…
You know how it is when you just plain crave baked beans. This rich baked beans recipe will satisfy your cravings and throws in healthy sweet potatoes to boot. And, then there is the complex smoky flavor of chipotle peppers. What’s not to love…
Oxi! (or is it Nai! ?) I could never keep yes and no straight in Greek. (Could be a dangerous confusion in any language. I know.)
These Greek Baked Beans are delicious.
I just made another big (for me) Rancho Gordo bean buy and used their beautiful white cassoulet beans in this recipe. They are a kind of runner bean and are about the size of a small lima bean. They are a pretty bean, creamy in texture and, unless you really overcook them, they stay intact in your dish.
What makes these beans Greek? They are baked with a generous amount of olive oil, for one, and this slow-cooked tomato and bean dish is nothing if not reminiscent of Fassolia Yiachni, a traditional bean and tomato dish often served in Greek tavernas.
And what fun those tavernas can be! Rather than ordering from a boring old menu, you boldly walk into the kitchen and point to the dishes you want to order from the display of steaming pots. I’ve pointed to many a dish that looks like this bean and tomato combination in my day, particularly at Tria Adelphia Taverna in Victoria Square in Athens–our favorite place when we used to travel there. We spent many late nights dining there amid the glorious bouzouki-tinged tumult that was a constant at the restaurant. It is a very good memory of happy and adventurous times. Here are a couple of old photographs. Yes. That is me in the Jackie O glasses.
This recipe is adapted from one that appears in Joyce Stubbs’ 1963 cookbook The Home Book of Greek Cookery. I’ve been nostalgic for Greek cooking lately and found that I have several Greek cookbooks on my shelves. Apparently, I’ve had this book for around fifty years. The sticker on the back of the book says I paid 425 drachmas for the book–about $1.50, I think.
It was nai (pronounced nee), by the way (in that first sentence of this piece). These Greek Baked Beans are a yes in any language.
Here is my adaptation of Stubbs’ recipe. Traditionally, this bean dish is a stove top dish. I took the liberty of transforming it into a baked version. I have yet to meet a baked bean that I don’t enjoy and this dish was no exception.
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I often look to David Tanis’ food column for inspired food ideas. He was a lead chef for more than thirty years at Berkeley’s legendary Chez Panisse. That credential alone positions him in the pantheon of culinary immortals. Since leaving Chez Panisse in 2011, Tanis has written a…
Years ago, a friend from school went chasing his dreams and moved to Alicante, Spain. We travelled there to visit and the four of us spent long leisurely afternoons laughing a lot, eating paella and drinking lots of red wine. In the late…
Easy peasy.
This soup couldn’t be easier to prepare–or more delicious.
The link to the original Marcella Hazan recipe from which this dish was adapted appears at the bottom of this post along with a link to heirloom bean supplier Rancho Gordo which markets a wonderful cannellini bean, the Marcella, that is superb in this soup.
Rancho Gordo’s Steve Sando credits much of his cooking expertise and inspiration to Marcella Hazan, the famed Italian cookbook author and cook. Before her death, he and Hazan conducted a correspondence about beans and particularly about a sorara cannellini bean that Hazan particularly favored but found difficult to source in the United States. Sando and Rancho Gordo found a sorara seedstock and was able to introduce this bean to the heirloom bean market. In Hazan’s honor, the Rancho Gordo bean was named Marcella.
Recipe: “Marcella” White Bean Soup
1/2 C. extra virgin olive oil
1 t. chopped garlic
2 C. cooked (drained) Rancho Gordo Marcella white beans (or 6 C. canned beans, drained)
Salt and black pepper
1 C. vegetable broth (or Vegemite broth)
2 T. chopped cilantro or parsley
Directions:
Cook beans in a pressure cooker and drain (or use 6 C canned, drained beans).
Put the oil and chopped garlic in a large pan and cook until the garlic is a light brown color. This will happen quickly in hot oil.
Add drained beans to oil and garlic along with salt and black pepper to taste. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. If your beans are breaking down at this point you need to do nothing. If you bean skins are not breaking down, puree about 1/2 C. of beans and return to the pot along with the broth.
Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in chopped cilantro or parsley.
Serve with shaved parmesan cheese and thick slices of toasted bread.
Cook’s Notes: This recipe makes a very thick soup. You may need to add extra broth at serving time. The original recipe called for beef broth, by the way. I substituted vegetable broth and a bit of Vegemite. I have also served these wonderful beans on slices of baguette sprinkled with some asagio cheese and warmed under the oven broiler. With a green salad, this makes a great dinner.
Here is the link to the original recipe:
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