Smitten Kitchen's pizza beans
762
- Makes8 servings
Photographs copyright © 2017 Deb Perelman.
Most of us know the number one rule of cooking for a crowd: don't make anything new or scary. Not the rack of lamb you've been eyeing, not the souffle or anything else that's going to send you into a vibe-ruining tizzy. This rule is probably doubly important if you're invited to a potluck at a big-deal editor's apartment with a dozen food writers you're totally intimidated by, each of whom will arrive with his or her own signature dish. But this is not what I did. I'd like to pretend that it's just because I've got an unshakable confidence in my cooking, or, at the least, kitchen, uh, "meatballs" of steel. Alas, it would be more accurate to say that I decided to make this dish you see here-a mash-up of a giant-beans-in-tomato-sauce dish from Greece and American-style baked ziti, with beans instead of noodles — because, well, it was really what I was in the mood to cook that day, and cravings trump rationality pretty much always around here, and especially when I am 6 months pregnant.
Before I left, I baked off a smaller amount for my husband and son for dinner, and my son — perhaps predictably for the kindergarten set-threw a fit. "I do not like beans." "You're going to love these." "I won't eat them." "You should try them! You'll see! There's tomato sauce, and look at all of that cheese on top. . . . It's just like pizza." "Pizza beans!!" (Do I even need to tell you that this did the trick?) And thus this is the story of how I showed up to a potluck with a dish tagged "Tomato-Braised Gigante Bean Gratin," but there isn't a person there who will remember them (fondly, I hope) as anything but "Pizza Beans."
Ingredients
2 tbsp (30ml) olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
1 large carrot, (or 2 regular carrots) diced
salt
freshly ground black pepper, or red pepper flakes
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup (60ml) dry white or red wine, (optional)
2 1/4 cups (550g) crushed tomatoes, (28-ounce or 800g can minus 1 cup; reserve the rest for another use)
1 pound (455g) cooked tender-firm giant white beans
Up to 3/4 cup (175 ml) vegetable broth
1/2 pound (225g) mozzarella, coarsely grated
1/3 cup (35g) grated Parmesan
2 tbsp (5g) roughly chopped fresh flat parsley, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
Prepare the beans* and vegetables Heat the oven to 475 degrees. In a 21/2-to-3-quart (ideally oven-safe) deep sauté pan, braiser, or shallow Dutch oven, heat the olive oil on medium-high. Add the onion, celery, and carrots.
Season well with salt and black or red pepper. Cook, sautéing, until the vegetables brown lightly, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook for 1 minute more. Add the wine, if using, to scrape up any stuck bits, then simmer until it disappears, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the kale, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until collapsed, then add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Add the beans, and, if the mixture looks too dry or thick (canned tomatoes range quite a bit in juiciness), add up to 3/4 cup broth, 1/4 cup at a time. Simmer the mixture together over medium for about 10 minutes, adjusting the seasonings as needed. If your pan isn’t ovenproof, transfer the mixture to a 3-quart baking dish. If it is, well, carry on.
Sprinkle the beans first with the mozzarella, then the Parmesan, and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until browned on top. If you’re impatient and want a deeper colour, you can run it under the broiler. Finish with parsley, if desired.
Notes These beans are called fagioli corona (in Italy), gigante/ gigandes (in Greece), Royal Corona (by Rancho Gordo, where I ordered mine), and other names. For a meaty variation, brown some fresh sweet or spicy Italian sausages (about 3/4 pound or 340 grams) with the vegetables.
*Bean cooking note This recipe was originally designed as a long oven-braise that began with dried beans. I recommend you cook your beans in advance. Because they’re very big, I usually soak them for 12 to 24 hours in salted water, then simmer them for a couple hours; you could also use a slow cooker on high (usually 4 to 6 hours, but it will vary), or a pressure cooker (about 20 minutes, with variance), or bake them in the oven at 325 degrees for approximately 70 to 90 minutes after bringing them to a simmer on the stove.
Pizza beans recipe excerpted from Smitten Kitchen Every Day by Deb Perelman. Text and photographs copyright © 2017 Deb Perelman. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.