Year of the Bean

Growing up, our house cookbook was Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Italian Cooking. Summer was filled with simple dishes and fresh-from-the-garden ingredients; the end of summer saw us processing massive batches of pesto and her amazing, simple tomato sauce.

And so it was a great joy when Rancho Gordo started offering the Marcella bean (click through and read the whole story!) – a beautiful, simple Italian bean from her childhood. The bean is a star and per Steve’s advice, is best cooked simply, low and slow. It’s a great bean to have alone or smashed on good bread.

Ingredients

• 300g Rancho Gordo Marcella bean (you could use another white bean I guess, but just get these beans)
• 1 tbs. fresh herbs chopped fine (I used rosemary, oregano, and thyme)
• a couple glugs good olive oil
• salt

Procedure

1. Cover beans with 2″ of water in a heavy-bottomed pot; add herbs and olive oil
2. Raise to a boil and boil for five minutes; lower to a bare simmer and cook until nicely softened
3. When softened, add salt to taste
4. Enjoy!