I got in trouble with this recipe for Cannellini Bean Puree, though it turned out delicious I always forget how long beans take to make from scratch. I saw Jamie Oliver do it on his new Jamie at Home show and I thought it would be great food for this time of year. However, cooking beans is not something one should do on a weeknight – at least not if you get home as late as I do. It has the risk of infuriating your partner, although the result may be worth it. I really like the idea of dried beans and lentils but I don’t end up using them as often as I would like. I am afraid I couldn’t find the recipe after seeing the show so I don’t have a link for it. However I saw that Sara made it last week as well. This recipe will produce a richly creamy and delicious tasting puree.
(serves 2)
1c dried cannelini beans
1 small tomato, cut in half
1 small potato, skinned and cut in half
1 bay leaf
several garlic cloves
salt and pepper
olive oil
1. Soak the beans overnight.
2. Drain the beans and put them in a pot covered with cold fresh water. Add the tomato, potato, bay leaf and garlic.
3. Simmer, covered for until tender. About 1 1/2 – 2 hours.
4. Drain 3/4 of the liquid reserving some. Remove the potato, tomato and garlic and discard the bay leaf. With a fork mash some of the beans leaving some of them whole.
5. Separately in a small bowl mash the potato, remove the skin from the tomato and discard. remove the skin from the garlic cloves and add to the potatoes and tomato. Mush it up with a fork and add it to the beans.
6. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as appropriate. Serve drizzled with some nice olive oil.
More Delicious Recipes:
Cornetti with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Cannellini Beans
Black Eyed Pea Veggie Burgers
Yam and Black Bean Enchiladas
Baked Falafel
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Get a pressure cooker – it will make short work of cooking the beans leaving the home stress free and satisfied. (Ye Gads, I just regressed to the ’50′s…forgive me)
Sounds like a yummy recipe! Just a thought, I soak my beans overnight then with fresh water bring them to a boil in the morning while getting ready. After boiling 15 minutes (more if I can), I turn it off, leave it closed and come back to rather soft beans later on. It seems to save some time on the long boil step.
lol, thanks katiez – I have been meaning to borrow my friend’s pressure cooker and give it a try.
Gretchen – thanks that is a GREAT idea! My beans took the full 2 hours.. I really wasn’t expecting that.
You really do need to get into the pressure cooker-ing – I’m surprised it’s taken this long! Be warned about using it for beans however – apparently they splatter ‘gunk’ that clogs the pressure valve, so you need to be around while it’s cooking to make sure it’s still ‘spluttering’. The fam has had 2 pea soup on ceiling episodes due to minor explosions due to clogging
Slow cookers also make great beans. You can make a big batch and then freeze them in some of their juice in portions that you use. Cheaper than canned!