I just made a cannellini bean and green chard stew, with carrots, zucchini and thyme. I've been reading loads of recipes about it, and took what I liked best about each of them. Ross Parsons, food critic at the Los Angeles Times in his book How to Read a French Fry, recommends baking the beans in a dutch oven in teaspoon of salt. He lists garlic, bacon, carrots and Swiss chard. Barbara Fairchild in the Bon Appetit Cookbook mostly lists canned beans, (but does reccomend soaking overnight if you use dried beans) but goes for classic flavors with sage, bacon and plum tomatoes. The Silver Spoon asks for canned beans, eggplant, bell peppers, tomatoes, parsley and basil. My grandma swears by pre-soaking the beans overnight and cooking on very low heat for at least two hours; she would add ham, carrots, chiles, sugar, cilantro.
I decided to loosely follow instructions. I soaked the dried beans for 24 hours; drained, replaced with cold water, brought to a rapid boil, reduced heat, and cooked over medium-low heat for about an hour and 15 minutes.
(In the meantime, I tackled a sanding project that was way overdue. I finally got a hold of a heavy-duty sander and went to town in my backyard. I have officially, and successfully, sanded, primed and finished a janky-looking shelf. The problem here is that my attention was definitely in the sanding, and I have to admit I forgot about the cooking beans on the stove....)
Back in the kitchen, on another pot, I sauteed leeks, shallots, garlic until translucent. In went about 8 chopped Nantes carrots (that had about five more days of fridge life left,) 2 zucchini squash, the chopped stalks from the chard, and 4 thyme springs. Cooked covered for about 10 minutes over medium-low heat. (By then, the beans were overcooked! Falling apart from their shell, the stock was clumpy and starchy from the beans breaking apart.)
Feeling disappointed and a little defeated, I still added the beans along with some of their stock and simmered for about 5 minutes. The result: not the gorgeous stew I had imagined, but something more like baby food. The remaining of the beans went into the freezer for a future use (or earthquake food.) Although pretty flavorful, the stew went right into the blender. Too thick for a soup, but perhaps good enough for a contorni? (I can see this going with some venezuelan-style pork butt---pernil.) Even better, I spread onto toast of a seeded baguette, added some julienned fresh basil, grated some parmesano and sprinkled some coarse salt. Served next to some mizuna drizzled with balsamic, there we had lunch!
The lessons:
Soak beans just overnight. 24 hours is overkill.
Keep an eye on the stove!
Don't overmix the stew ---the ladel bumps against the beans, bruising their shells.
Add the zucchini much, much later.
More salt, maybe lemon zest to serve?
I decided to loosely follow instructions. I soaked the dried beans for 24 hours; drained, replaced with cold water, brought to a rapid boil, reduced heat, and cooked over medium-low heat for about an hour and 15 minutes.
(In the meantime, I tackled a sanding project that was way overdue. I finally got a hold of a heavy-duty sander and went to town in my backyard. I have officially, and successfully, sanded, primed and finished a janky-looking shelf. The problem here is that my attention was definitely in the sanding, and I have to admit I forgot about the cooking beans on the stove....)
Back in the kitchen, on another pot, I sauteed leeks, shallots, garlic until translucent. In went about 8 chopped Nantes carrots (that had about five more days of fridge life left,) 2 zucchini squash, the chopped stalks from the chard, and 4 thyme springs. Cooked covered for about 10 minutes over medium-low heat. (By then, the beans were overcooked! Falling apart from their shell, the stock was clumpy and starchy from the beans breaking apart.)
Feeling disappointed and a little defeated, I still added the beans along with some of their stock and simmered for about 5 minutes. The result: not the gorgeous stew I had imagined, but something more like baby food. The remaining of the beans went into the freezer for a future use (or earthquake food.) Although pretty flavorful, the stew went right into the blender. Too thick for a soup, but perhaps good enough for a contorni? (I can see this going with some venezuelan-style pork butt---pernil.) Even better, I spread onto toast of a seeded baguette, added some julienned fresh basil, grated some parmesano and sprinkled some coarse salt. Served next to some mizuna drizzled with balsamic, there we had lunch!
The lessons:
Soak beans just overnight. 24 hours is overkill.
Keep an eye on the stove!
Don't overmix the stew ---the ladel bumps against the beans, bruising their shells.
Add the zucchini much, much later.
More salt, maybe lemon zest to serve?
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