Marinated Shell Beans with Cherry Tomatoes and Oregano
Italians famously eat a lot of beans, so including shell beans on our menu was an obvious choice. Shell beans are so delicious and can be prepared in such a variety of ways, and yet you don’t normally see them at conventional grocery stores. Looking for shell beans is a good excuse to visit your local farmers’ market, which is where we find them in Los Angeles in the late summer and early fall. We use a mix of four types of shell beans—borlotti beans, cannellini beans, lima beans, and flageolet—because we like the range of sizes, colors, and flavors of the various beans. Properly cooking beans is about 90 percent of the battle, which is why we cook each type of bean separately; to spare yourself the effort, use fewer varieties of beans. If you don’t have access to shell beans, or when shell beans are not in season, you could make this using dried beans. Refer to Ceci (page 96) for instructions. The recipe for the bouquet is for each pot of beans. You will need to make the same number as types of beans you are making.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 4 to 6
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Wrap the onion, garlic, and sage in a doubled piece of cheesecloth and tie it into a closed bundle with kitchen twine. Put each type of bean in a separate small or medium saucepan and add enough water to each pan to cover the beans by 1 1/2 inches. Place one bouquet in each pan, stir in the olive oil, bring the water to a boil over high heat, and salt the water to taste like the ocean. Add approximately 1 tablespoon of salt for each quart of water. Reduce the heat and simmer the beans until they are tender and creamy, but not mushy, adding more water as needed, but never covering them by more than an inch and a half, 25 to 35 minutes. (Cooking them in this way yields richer tasting, creamier beans than if you were to just boil them in tons of water.) Turn off the heat and allow the beans to cool in the cooking liquid. Remove and discard the cheesecloth bundles. The beans can be prepared to this point up to one week in advance. If you are using the beans now, drain them, reserving the cooking liquid to use as a hearty, bean-flavored base for vegetable soup. To use them later, transfer the beans and the cooking liquid to an airtight container and refrigerate until you are ready to use them or up to 24 hours. Drain and bring the beans to room temperature before dressing them.
Step 2
Combine the various beans in a large mixing bowl. Add the tomatoes, parsley, and oregano. Drizzle with the vinaigrette, season with salt and pepper, and stir gently to combine the ingredients, taking care not to crush the beans. Taste for seasoning and add more salt, pepper, or vinaigrette, if desired. Serve at room temperature.
