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Fresh Shelling Beans
While dried beans are wonderful, there is a moment in time when fresh shelling beans are superb. Chez Panisse uses this recipe for all sorts of varieties, including cranberry, cannellini, flageolet, lima, and butter beans.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 3 pounds fresh cranberry or cannellini beans in the pod (3 to 4 cups shelled beans)
- Extra virgin olive oil, to taste
- Kosher salt, to taste
- 1 bay leaf
- A few sage leaves or a sprig of rosemary or thyme
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Shell the beans. Put them in a large heavy pot or an earthenware bean pot and cover with water by 2 inches. Add a splash of olive oil, a good pinch of salt, the bay leaf, and the sage leaves or sprig of rosemary or thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook gently for 30 to 45 minutes, until the beans are tender throughout. Taste one to ensure that they are cooked through.
Turn off the heat, and let the beans cool down in the broth. Reheat gently when ready to serve. Pour off most of the broth (save it for soup or some other use), season the beans with salt and black pepper, and drizzle with olive oil.
Note: You can add chard, collards, large rocket leaves, and kale to the beans. If the greens are tough, boil them a little, then sauté them with olive oil, garlic, maybe a little hot pepper (particularly good with broccoli rabe), salt, pepper, and a splash of red wine vinegar. Serve as a side or folded through the beans.
Reprinted by permission of Alice Waters from Six Classic Recipes from the Chez Panisse Café.
Alice Waters is a chef, author, and food activist, and founder of the renowned Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, CA. She is the author of numerous books, including We Are What We Eat: A Slow Food Manifesto (2021). Learn more about her work and the Edible Schoolyard Project at edibleschoolyard.org.
Published in the Journal of Health and Healing™
Winter 2022 – 23 | Volume 46, Number 4
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