Cooking
Saturday, 12:30 pm: Tonight I’m cooking Italian. I’m having soup and baked beans for dinner, which isn’t very adventurous in terms of what I’m eating (no fish here), but I promise there will be adventure…
I normally cook from a recipe. I occasionally make minor modifications to suit my taste or to make due with what I have on hand, but normally I’m pretty rigid about recipes. Tonight I’m using my imagination just a little.
I was trying to think of something to go with the soup I have planned for tonight (more on that later) and somehow the idea of making Tuscan baked beans popped into my head. Actually, Tuscans have a long tradition of making baked beans. They wouldn’t make them in a New England bean pot as I am, but they would season the beans with olive oil and sage, put them in a flask, and tuck them into the fireplace embers overnight for a long slow cook.
My thought was that I would take these basic ingredients, expand on them a bit, and then cook them as I normally would cook Boston baked beans. I added some pancetta in lieu of the salt pork, and then threw in some onion, garlic and tomatoes for good measure. I put them in the oven a couple of hours ago, and already the house is filled with the wonderful smell of baking beans.
Saturday, 7:45 pm: I just finished dinner. The beans were delicious, though very soft and falling apart. I like them this way very much, but it’s interesting that they came out so different in texture from Boston baked beans. Perhaps it is due to the type of bean I used, since I normally use navy beans for Boston baked beans. My Tuscan-inspired beans had formed a really tasty sauce. I sprinkled some Parmesan cheese on top and added a little salt (I would probably increase the amount of salt in the recipe next time). All in all I was very pleased with the results!
Tuscan-Inspired Baked Beans
1 lb dry white beans (I used cannellini)
2 oz pancetta (mine was already sliced, I then cut it into ½” squares)
¼ cup olive oil
1 small onion (I used Vidalia), chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 leaves of sage, chopped coarsely
1 cup canned Italian plum tomatoes, chopped, with juice
½ tsp salt
boiling water
Sort through the beans and remove any rocks or really ugly beans. Rinse the beans a couple of times and then cover with cold water and soak overnight.
The next morning, drain the beans and cover with fresh water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 275 F.
Meanwhile, sauté the pancetta in about 2 tbs of the olive oil over medium heat for just a minute or so, then add the onions and garlic. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent. Stir in the sage and after a few seconds remove from the heat.
Drain the beans in a colander and then return them to the pan and stir in the pancetta mixture, tomatoes, salt, and remaining 2 tbs of olive oil. Spoon this mixture into a bean pot (or casserole dish) and add boiling water until it just covers the beans. Put them in the oven and bake for about 8 hours. Check every couple of hours to see if more water is needed. Add water for the last time about 2 hours before you intend to take the beans out of the oven.
mise en place
ready to go in the oven
Tuscan-Inspired Baked Beans
- Pasta Fagioli: Hunger Challenge Recipe
No question, I learned what frugal cooking was all about in Italy the land of "la cucina povera." Soups and salads made from stale bread, beans, pasta with nothing but olive oil, garlic and parmesan cheese and the most microscopic portions of meat were...
- Imbb 11 - Bob's Boston Baked Beans
The following is my brother Bob's contribution to IMBB 11 ... This recipe is the one my mother used almost every Saturday while we were growing up in the sixties and seventies. Typically accompanied by hot dogs (or, on special occasions, baked...
- Imbb 11 - Nupur's Pan-fried Sprouted Lentils
The following IMBB 11 entry was emailed to me by Nupur ... Hi, Being a veggie, I LOVE beans of all types! For this IMBB I made"Pan-fried Sprouted Lentils". It's a tasty and easy recipe, takes about 10-15 minutes to put together. I started by...
- Leftovers
I’ve been eating a lot of leftovers of late. Most recipes aren’t made for single people, so leftovers are plentiful at my house. When I cook something new, I try to put at least one portion in the freezer (unless freezing is obviously out of the question)....
- Potluck Recipes: The Bean Dish
In my mental recipe file, I have a section labeled "potluck recipes." The imaginary index cards hold dishes that don't cost much to make, come together easily, and scale well. Usually they can be served at room temperature, so that I don't have...
Cooking
The Italian Experiment – Part I: Boston Meets Florence
Saturday, 12:30 pm: Tonight I’m cooking Italian. I’m having soup and baked beans for dinner, which isn’t very adventurous in terms of what I’m eating (no fish here), but I promise there will be adventure…
I normally cook from a recipe. I occasionally make minor modifications to suit my taste or to make due with what I have on hand, but normally I’m pretty rigid about recipes. Tonight I’m using my imagination just a little.
I was trying to think of something to go with the soup I have planned for tonight (more on that later) and somehow the idea of making Tuscan baked beans popped into my head. Actually, Tuscans have a long tradition of making baked beans. They wouldn’t make them in a New England bean pot as I am, but they would season the beans with olive oil and sage, put them in a flask, and tuck them into the fireplace embers overnight for a long slow cook.
My thought was that I would take these basic ingredients, expand on them a bit, and then cook them as I normally would cook Boston baked beans. I added some pancetta in lieu of the salt pork, and then threw in some onion, garlic and tomatoes for good measure. I put them in the oven a couple of hours ago, and already the house is filled with the wonderful smell of baking beans.
Saturday, 7:45 pm: I just finished dinner. The beans were delicious, though very soft and falling apart. I like them this way very much, but it’s interesting that they came out so different in texture from Boston baked beans. Perhaps it is due to the type of bean I used, since I normally use navy beans for Boston baked beans. My Tuscan-inspired beans had formed a really tasty sauce. I sprinkled some Parmesan cheese on top and added a little salt (I would probably increase the amount of salt in the recipe next time). All in all I was very pleased with the results!
Tuscan-Inspired Baked Beans
1 lb dry white beans (I used cannellini)
2 oz pancetta (mine was already sliced, I then cut it into ½” squares)
¼ cup olive oil
1 small onion (I used Vidalia), chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 leaves of sage, chopped coarsely
1 cup canned Italian plum tomatoes, chopped, with juice
½ tsp salt
boiling water
Sort through the beans and remove any rocks or really ugly beans. Rinse the beans a couple of times and then cover with cold water and soak overnight.
The next morning, drain the beans and cover with fresh water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 275 F.
Meanwhile, sauté the pancetta in about 2 tbs of the olive oil over medium heat for just a minute or so, then add the onions and garlic. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent. Stir in the sage and after a few seconds remove from the heat.
Drain the beans in a colander and then return them to the pan and stir in the pancetta mixture, tomatoes, salt, and remaining 2 tbs of olive oil. Spoon this mixture into a bean pot (or casserole dish) and add boiling water until it just covers the beans. Put them in the oven and bake for about 8 hours. Check every couple of hours to see if more water is needed. Add water for the last time about 2 hours before you intend to take the beans out of the oven.
mise en place
ready to go in the oven
Tuscan-Inspired Baked Beans
- Pasta Fagioli: Hunger Challenge Recipe
No question, I learned what frugal cooking was all about in Italy the land of "la cucina povera." Soups and salads made from stale bread, beans, pasta with nothing but olive oil, garlic and parmesan cheese and the most microscopic portions of meat were...
- Imbb 11 - Bob's Boston Baked Beans
The following is my brother Bob's contribution to IMBB 11 ... This recipe is the one my mother used almost every Saturday while we were growing up in the sixties and seventies. Typically accompanied by hot dogs (or, on special occasions, baked...
- Imbb 11 - Nupur's Pan-fried Sprouted Lentils
The following IMBB 11 entry was emailed to me by Nupur ... Hi, Being a veggie, I LOVE beans of all types! For this IMBB I made"Pan-fried Sprouted Lentils". It's a tasty and easy recipe, takes about 10-15 minutes to put together. I started by...
- Leftovers
I’ve been eating a lot of leftovers of late. Most recipes aren’t made for single people, so leftovers are plentiful at my house. When I cook something new, I try to put at least one portion in the freezer (unless freezing is obviously out of the question)....
- Potluck Recipes: The Bean Dish
In my mental recipe file, I have a section labeled "potluck recipes." The imaginary index cards hold dishes that don't cost much to make, come together easily, and scale well. Usually they can be served at room temperature, so that I don't have...