I’m cursed by a total inability to cook the “magical fruit” from scratch. Every time I try, I end up with rock-hard nubbins that would be better as pebbles on the bottom of a fish tank than dinner.
Fortunately, there is a wide selection of the canned variety at the store.
While I like bacon as much as the next girl, I don’t miss meat ONE BIT when eating this bean gratin: creamy beans in a savory sauce, topped with crunchy bread crumbs and salty cheese. You have got to try it – healthy, hearty, cheap and easy. Hard to beat.
How did this delectable bean dish enter my life? I ordered a similar bean gratin at Nopa one night, years ago. Since then, it’s become one of my favorite dishes at the restaurant, even as it changes to incorporate seasonal ingredients. I wanted to try replicating it at home but I was nervous about making the right sauce. Then a friend of mine mentioned a dish she had at Ubuntu and a recipe for the dish in the New York Times… and although that dish is more of a soup, the flavors seemed right, so I adapted it to make this bean gratin. The results = good.
I chose butter beans — big, creamy beans — for the recipe. Apparently they are in the lima bean family, but they are pale yellow and much larger and softer. Lima beans originated in Lima, Peru. Who knew, though I guess it should have been obvious.
The butter beans I bought at the grocery store (in a can!) were from Italy (wait, I thought they were Peruvian!). A true staple of the cooking of so many cultures, beans have traveled all over the world, so they seem to “come” from everywhere. In a past life, I did some PR work related to beans and nutrition and learned a bit about beans’ history and culinary trends. (I know it’s a “commercial” site, but the papers on the “professional” pages are really informational and pretty interesting.)
In total, this recipe took me about a half an hour to prepare from start to finish. Serve with a green salad for a quick weekday meal.
Giant Butter Bean & Feta Gratin
- serves 6 -
olive oil
1 large carrot, diced
1 large rib celery, diced
1 large leek, white and green parts only, diced
1/3 of a head of garlic, minced
1t red chili flakes
1T fresh rosemary, minced
1 28-oz. can whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes,* drained and chopped + about 2-3T of the tomato juice
2 14-oz. cans butter beans
2T fresh parsley, chopped
salt & pepper
feta cheese
dry bread crumbs
Saute carrots, celery, leeks, garlic, chili flakes, rosemary and a pinch of salt and pepper in a few tablespoons of olive oil in a dutch oven until vegetables are just starting to soften. Add tomatoes, tomato juice, beans and parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mixture should have a little liquid, like the beans are in a tomato sauce — not a soup. Add more tomato juice if needed, or simmer to reduce the liquid.
Fill individual ceramic or clay dishes (that you can put in the oven) with about 3/4-1 cup of the bean mixture (whatever fits). Sprinkle generously with crumbled feta cheese and about a teaspoon of dry bread crumbs. Drizzle with olive oil to moisten the bread crumbs. Broil about 8-10 minutes or until the topping is slightly browned.
* San Marzano are meaty plum tomatoes.
Hi Jenn. This blog is awesome! Can you please send me some of these dishes in a care package? It’s mouthwatering just reading this stuff. Charlie