Cannellini Beans
We are moving next week, so I am on a mission to clean out my kitchen cabinets. So far, I am enjoying this challenge of building simple, delicious, seasonal dishes using the staples in my cupboards. As I came upon a pound of dried Cannellini beans on a shelf, I was reminded that beans are for summer too. Typically, we associate them with soups and stews – but not so fast! Cannellini beans are white Italian kidney beans that have a wonderfully smooth, creamy texture suitable for a range of dishes.
My plan was to cook up the pound of beans and then go three ways with them. The act of cooking beans is really satisfying anytime of year. Yes, it takes some forethought to soak them. Yes, it takes some time to simmer them. Consider these small investments in nourishing you and yours. Cook the beans one evening after dinner or on a Saturday morning while you read the paper. (I use a pressure cooker for my beans, which cuts the cooking time significantly, but that’s for another post!)
If you create an aromatic broth while cooking them by adding a little salt, garlic and bay leaves, then you can use that broth for making sauces or for cooking other rice and grains. Yummy!
Use this simple method to prepare your Cannellini beans:
In a large mixing bowl, cover 1 pound of Cannellinni beans in 8 cups of cold water and refrigerate for 8 hours, or overnight. Drain and rinse beans.
In a 6 to 8 quart pot, combine beans with 9 cups fresh water, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 2 garlic cloves (unpeeled), and 2 bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover partially, and simmer for about one hour until soft (not mushy) and translucent on the inside (not opaque). No need to over-engineer this, but you do want to watch the cooking time to avoid over- or under-cooking the beans. Drain and refrigerate for up to 5 days. You can also freeze your cooked beans in 1 1/2 cup quantities for use in recipes that call for a 15-ounce can of beans.
Now that you have prepared your beans, here are three healthy and simple ways to use them:
Thanks for the cannellini bean info. The Ferry Plaza Farmers Market cookbook suggests swirling beet greens into “soupy white cannellini beans” and then drizzling with olive oil. I just bought beets today so I might try this, now that I know what to do with the beans!
Good for you, Deb! Sounds delicious…I’ll have to try it…