HotmailJamie Oliver's humble home-cooked beans
Chef shares his hearty recipe that will keep you warm this cold season
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Making home-cooked beans Nov. 12: British chef Jamie Oliver shows TODAY hosts how to cook up some tasty meals using home-cooked beans. Today show |
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As part of a special TODAY series titled Jamie Oliver’s Cooking School, the hot British chef is back to share some simple and delicious meals using seasonal ingredients from his new book “Jamie at Home, Cook Your Way to the Good Life.” Today, it’s all about beans.
My first thought when I saw these beans on a menu in Italy was ‘Beans on toast?’ But then I tasted them. I felt pretty humbled that such a simple dish had been made to taste so gorgeous. Once you’ve learned how to season and cook them in the right way, you can apply the method to cannellini beans, butter beans, borlotti beans, haricots verts, lentils, even chickpeas. If you’ve grown your own beans, good on ya! Fresh ones will take about 45 minutes to cook, but you’re more likely to get dried beans as they’re cheap, and very reliable to cook. However, they will need soaking for at least 12 hours.
INGREDIENTS
Drain your soaked beans, then give them a good wash. Place them in a deep pot and cover them with cold water. Throw in your garlic, herb sprigs, bay leaves, celery stick, potato and tomatoes. Place the beans on the heat and slowly bring to the boil. Cover with a lid and simmer very gently for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on whether you’re using fresh or dried, until soft and cooked nicely. Skim if necessary, topping up with boiling water from the kettle if you need to.
When the beans are cooked, drain them in a colander, reserving enough of the cooking water to cover them halfway up when put back in the pot. Remove the garlic, herbs, celery, potato and tomatoes from the beans. Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins and pinch the skin off the tomatoes. Put the garlic, tomatoes and potato on to a plate, mash them with a fork and stir back into the beans. Season well with salt and pepper, and pour in three generous glugs of extra virgin olive oil and a few splashes of vinegar. Stir in the parsley and serve on some toasted sourdough bread.
Four ways to serve your humble home-cooked beans:
Creamy beans with fresh crab and chili
Mix some lovely cold, picked crabmeat with a little chopped fresh chili and some picked fennel tops. Spoon the warm home-cooked beans on to a plate and top with the crab mixture.
Crispy red mullet with beans
Get yourself 1 or 2 red mullet fillets. Season them with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and fry in a glug of olive oil on a medium heat for a couple of minutes on each side. Chop a handful of rocket and stir it into your warm home-cooked beans with a little lemon zest and some extra virgin olive oil. Spoon the beans on to a plate, top with the perfectly cooked red mullet fillets and sprinkle over some smoked paprika.
Warm salad of beans and bread
Toast 2 slices of good-quality bread and tear them into rough chunks. Place in a bowl with a handful of chopped tomatoes, some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a swig of good balsamic vinegar. Spoon some of your warm home-cooked beans on to a plate, followed by the bread and tomato mixture. Serve topped with a slice or two of prosciutto and some baby basil leaves.
Beans with scallops and pancetta
Take up to 3 scallops and wrap a slice of pancetta round each one. Thread them on to a skewer or a sturdy sprig of fresh rosemary and fry them on each side in a little olive oil until golden. Spoon your delicious warm home-cooked beans on to your plate and top with the scallops. Serve with a squeeze of lemon, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and any juices from the pan. Brilliant!
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