White Beans with Tomatoes, Garlic, and Sage - make your own with a twist

JD

October 02, 2019

0

healthy-food, tasty-food-recipe

Dried beans come in a range of color, shapes, and sizes, with flavors from earthy to nutty. They have a far superior texture and better flavor than canned beans, but while it’s not difficult to cook dried beans, it does
take some time. For a simple but hearty bean recipe, we started by giving dried white beans a gentle simmer on the stove and then letting them sit off heat to finish cooking for a perfectly creamy texture. Onion, carrot,
and bay leaves simmered with the beans to help impart a subtle flavor. Simmering a whole head of garlic also gave us softened cloves with a mild, sweet garlic flavor that we then stirred into the beans. Sautéing more garlic and sage in olive oil before adding tomatoes gave us a potently flavored base. Adding the cooked beans and simmering let the traditional Italian flavors meld into a simple and satisfying dish.

Ingredients

• 1 pound (2½ cups) dried cannellini, great Northern, or navy beans, rinsed and picked over to remove any small stones and beans that are broken or shriveled
• 1 onion, unpeeled and halved through root end
• 1 carrot, cut into 2-inch lengths
• 1 garlic head, outer papery skins removed and top third of head cut off and discarded, plus 4 cloves, sliced thin
• Salt and pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 cups water
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• ¼ cup chopped fresh sage
• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Procedure

1. Bring beans, onion, carrot, garlic head, 1 teaspoon salt, bay leaves, and water to boil in large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low, partially cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until beans are almost tender, 1 to 1¼ hours, adding more liquid if necessary. Remove pot from heat, completely cover, and let stand until beans are fully tender, 30 to 60 minutes. Drain beans in colander, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid. Discard onion, carrot, and bay leaves. With a slotted spoon, transfer head of garlic to cutting board. Using tongs, squeeze cloves out of skins and return softened cloves to pot with beans; discard skins.
2. Heat oil, thinly sliced garlic, and sage in 12-inch skillet over medium heat. As oil begins to sizzle, shake pan back and forth so that garlic does not stick (stirring with wooden spoon will cause garlic to clump). Cook until garlic turns very pale gold and sage darkens, about 4 minutes. Add tomatoes and ½ teaspoon salt and simmer, stirring occasionally, until tomato juices have evaporated and tomatoes look shiny, about 10 minutes.
3. Stir in beans and reserved cooking liquid. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated, 18 to 20 minutes. Off heat, stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately, accompanied by extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling at table.

WHEN DRIED BEANS ARE WORTH IT

The biggest considerations when choosing whether to use dried or canned beans for a recipe are how much time you have and how central the beans are to the dish. Canned beans are undeniably convenient, but when the beans are the star of a dish, we prefer the firmer texture and cleaner flavor of dried beans. In long-cooked, slow simmered applications, dried beans also help create their own broth, as they do in our White Beans with Tomatoes, Garlic, and Sage. Canned beans are a great option for quicker recipes and dishes where texture is less important, such as when the beans will be pureed.

Buy “Fresh” Dried Beans

When shopping for beans, it’s essential to select the freshest dried beans available. Buy those that are uniform in size and have a smooth exterior. When dried beans are fully hydrated and cooked, they should

be plump, with taut skins, and have creamy insides; spent beans will have wrinkled skin and a dry, almost gritty texture.

Make Dried Beans a Pantry Staple

Uncooked beans should be stored in a cool, dry place in a sealed plastic or glass container. Beans are less susceptible than rice and grains to pests and spoilage, but it is still best to use them within a month or two. Always pick over dried beans to remove stones and debris, and rinse them before cooking to wash away any dust or impurities.

Substitute Canned Beans with Caution

Most recipes that call for dried beans require the beans to cook slowly with the other ingredients so that they release their starches and thicken the dish. When you replace dried beans with canned beans and shorten the cooking time (canned beans are fully cooked and need to cook only long enough to warm through and soak up flavor),you sacrifice both the flavor and the texture of the finished dish. But if you’re short on time and need to swap in canned beans, a general rule of thumb is that 1 cup of dried beans equals 3 cups of canned beans.