While I wait for the market season to start, I’m filling in some basic recipes that I will build on as the year passes.
Dried beans are a great staple to keep in the house. I discovered that I could mail order many varieties (like cannellini beans) for much cheaper than I found them in town. Below is my base recipe for cannellini beans. We cook up one pound at a time then freeze them in 2 cup containers. Then we have them at hand for white bean purees, soups, salads and as sides or for use in pastas.
Recipe: Basic Cannellini Beans
Summary: This is the base recipe for cannellini beans.
Prep time: 1 day with soaking, 30 – 60 minutes of cooking time, 15 minutes of active time
Ingredients
- 1 pound of dried cannellini beans
- 1 large onion quartered and peeled
- 1 large carrot washed and broken into pieces
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 Tbls black peppercorns
- 1 Tbl whole allspice berries
- 6 cloves garlic peeled or not
- 6 sprigs of rosemary
- 6 stalks of italian flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
- Pour the cannellini beans into baking sheet. Pick them over and throw out any stones, discolored beans or other foreign objects.
- Transfer them to a large pot and cover with 2 inches of water – that is water that is 2 inches deeper than the beans.
- Let them soak overnight if you are going to cook them in the morning or while you are away all day if you are going to cook them that night.
- Drain into a colander and rinse the beans well. Put them back in the pot.
- Add the onion and carrot.
- If you want, you can put the rest of the ingredients into cheesecloth and tie into a sachet.
- Add everything else to the pot.
- Add cold water to cover by 2 inches again.
- Place the pot over medium high heat and bring up to a simmer. Give the beans a stir and then gently cook at a bare simmer. Stir occasionally but very gently so you don’t break the beans. Check for doneness after 20 minutes. It might take as long as an hour.
Beans cook wildly differently depending on how fresh they are, their size, how dry they are and your altitude along with a bunch of factors I haven’t figured out yet. When they are done, take off the heat and let cool and add salt to taste. Fish out the sachet if you made one. You can also pull out the onion and carrot and garlic.
Quick Notes
If you are going to serve them right away, check for salt and pepper. You might want to drizzle a little olive oil over them and serve them as a side dish.
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Recipe by Jim Phelps.
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