Soupy beans with garlic, tomato, and thyme. We took one look at that recipe and description in Gourmet's latest issue, and we were hooked.
This is a simple yet flavorful dish of beans and tomatoes that is hearty enough for a vegetarian main dish. Actually, we fed this to people who are definitely not vegetarians, and they loved it as a dinner dish too. The recipe calls for bacon, which we skipped in favor of another fat, and you could easily use butter or even olive oil instead.
The beans get cooked twice: they are soaked overnight and then cooked with some aromatics and herbs. Meanwhile, you make a rich tomato sauce, and then you simmer the mostly-cooked beans in that sauce. It's a little labor-intensive in that sense, but it's still mostly hands-off, and it makes a great big batch.
We did make a couple of changes.
• We didn't have bacon, so we used some leftover duck fat. This wasn't as smoky as the bacon, though, so at the very end of cooking we felt that the beans still needed something. We added a heaping tablespoons of smoked paprika, and this was the perfect finishing note. If you are making this vegetarian, using a non-animal fat for the tomato sauce, we really recommend that paprika or even chipotle powder to give the sauce some smoky depth.
• Also, we didn't have navy beans; we used Great Northern beans, which are quite similar. They are white beans and thin skinned, so they cooked fast.
• Get the recipe: Slow-Cooked Tomato and Herb White Beans at Gourmet
Have you made beans yet this fall?
Related: How to Cook Beans
(Images: Faith Durand)
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Oh yeah, I always have leftover duck fat hanging around my fridge too. ;)
The recipe says six servings as a side dish, but it seems like it would feed a greater amount of people. It's my turn to host a tailgate next weekend, and I'm looking for a side dish to feed maybe...20-25? Would two batches of this be enough? I could use up the last of my tomatoes, too.
I fed about 15 people with a double batch, and had quite a bit left over. It was a side dish then too. So yeah, my sense is it would be enough.
And reason for duck fat coming up tomorrow! (It's truly not an everyday staple in my fridge!)
Bravo! This looks delicious. Your photos definitely make it look more appetizing than the dark & dirty photo that Gourment used for this dish.
Thank you for a bacon-less option too :)
it's crockpot season!
hah, actually i do have duck fat in my frig. my roommate brought it back from france and i even posted a question on here, what do i do with all this duck fat?
This sounds and looks perfect for the upcoming cooler weather.
I actually made this a week ago, and was disappointed. It didn't seem to have a lot of flavor, though the fact that I cut my finger in the process of chopping tomatoes probably didn't help. I do have leftover beans, so I'll try again sometime.
I usually have a tub of duck fat in my fridge for times like these but I was out of both that and bacon last night when I made these. To round out the flavor, I added one chopped chipotle chile and a parmesan rind to the sauce and I finished the dish with some truffle oil. I was surprised at how flavorful it turned out to be.
i've tried this recipe in the past and found it was a bit bland as another poster did. it definitely benefits from a little kick of something, whether duck fat and paprika or whatever.
How is this vegetarian if you put duck fat in it? This is a common misconception I don't get. Vegetarians don't eat anything from animals, including its fats, gelatin, or broths.
How do you think this would work with canned beans?