Pot beans are one of the great pleasures of simple vegetarian cooking. Beans from a can simply cannot prepare you for the complex and delightful flavors of heirloom-variety beans, fresh or freshly dried, simmered in a broth of their own making. They give off a delicious liquor with rich, deep flavors that need no help from meat. We are known fans of Rancho Gordo's heirloom beans, and this recipe depends on beans from them or a similar source.
We stir in summer basil and tomato along with salty Parmesan to finish these off. It takes a little forethought to make these, since they have to cook for a while, but they keep great for up to a week.
Basil Parmesan Pot Beans
serves 4
2 cups heirloom dried beans, such as Rancho Gordo's Good Mother Stallard
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
Red pepper flakes, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese, to taste
1 cup loosely packed fresh basil
1 large tomato
Rinse and drain the dried beans thoroughly. Cover the beans with water in a medium saucepan and leave to soak for a couple hours or overnight. Sliver the garlic and chop the onion finely. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy frying pan and lightly cook the onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes over medium heat until the onion is translucent.
Add the cooked onions and garlic to the beans in the saucepan and bring to a hard boil over high heat. Boil for five minutes, then turn the heat to very, very low. Barely simmer for 2-3 hours, until the beans are tender, checking from time to time to see if they are drying out.
Finely chop the basil and mince the tomatoes. At the very end of the beans' cooking, throw in the basil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with minced tomato, a little extra basil, and Parmesan on top.
I made a very similar meal last night which I thought was yummy, only I used garbonzo beans and tons of parsley and tarragon instead of basil from my terrace herb garden. I also added zucchini. Otherwise, the other ingredients were identical. I let it simmer for about 35 minutes. Did I say it was yummy?
view BB's profile
Fantastic! I just got a load of Rancho Gordo beans, and have been looking for a summer-appropriate recipe - thanks!
view cremarie's profile
Why are dried beans more flavorful than canned beans?
view carrier's profile
carrier: because canned beans just sit in water whereas dried beans get cooked in water (with other things) to make a tasty broth, mmm.
I'm making this recipe right now and it smells great. But I have to say those tomatoes in the photo aren't minced, and it's odd to write "mince the tomatoes" when the recipe calls for only one tomato.
Plus there's no way that there could be enough water to cook the beans if you've only added water "to cover" when you soak them. And I'm just assuming this should simmer in a covered pot, since the recipe doesn't say.
view viola's profile
ps I *love* Rancho Gordo!
view viola's profile
I made this tonight and it is yummy! I didn't have rancho gordo beans (I keep meaning to order some but I haven't gotten around to it yet) but plain old black beans worked pretty well.
Thanks for the recipe!
view mango's profile
i never cook beans before...but would like to try your recipe. So, you soak them in the water (how much water?), then you cook them in the same water they been soaked in?
view Astrid Vladi's profile
Astrid - yes, you can cook them in the same water they've been soaked in. The recipe doesn't say how much water to use, but if you add enough to cover the beans with an inch extra, that's probably enough.
I actually took some of the water out before adding the cooked onion etc., and then added it back in when the beans were looking dry.
view viola's profile
viola, thank you!
view Astrid Vladi's profile