Pizza Beans
- Total Time: 50 Minutes
Description
These beans are everywhere now and are already a favorite from Deb Perelman’s new book, ‘Smitten Kitchen Every Day’. If your beans are ready to go, this is a great weeknight treat, the only change I made was to add more kale (but I add more veg to everything) – enjoy!
Ingredients
Let’s start with the beans – the recipe calls for 1 pound/455 g cooked firm-tender giant white beans. I used Clic Jumbo Lima Beans and used Deb’s advice to cook them in advance. I soaked them overnight for 12 hours in salted water, then simmered them for about 20 minutes, then left them in the hot water for about an hour. I did this in the morning (I get up really early), drained them, and then I was ready to go for dinner that night.
2 T. olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 stalks of celery AND 2 good-sized carrots, both diced
1 t. EACH kosher salt AND freshly ground pepper
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 c. dry white OR red wine
~250 g chopped kale (I actually used frozen, thawed overnight in the fridge and I’ve regularly used 500 g)
1 can (796 mL) fire-roasted crushed tomatoes – diced also works and if I amp up the kale then I’ll also add in a can of tomato sauce or a jar of passata
~3/4 c. vegetable broth (chicken broth also works – I use strong broth either way)
225 g + freshly grated or sliced mozzarella
~1/3 c. (35 g) grated Parmesan
2 T. roughly chopped fresh parsley – for garnish
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 450 and in a deep, oven-proof sauté pan, heat up the olive oil and then add in the onion, celery, carrots, salt and pepper and cook for about 10 minutes until the vegetables are lightly browned. Add in the garlic and cook for 1 minute more, then pour in the wine and stir to scrape up any browned bits, then simmer the mix until the wine has evaporated. Add in all of the kale, cook for a couple of minutes (especially if it’s fresh), then pour in the tomatoes and bring it all to a simmer.
Add in the beans, give it a good stir to combine, then decide how much broth you’d like to add in depending on how wet/dry it is at this point – this is also where you can add in more tomato ‘whatever you have on hand’ according to taste. Simmer it for 10 to 15 minutes, taste for seasonings, add some broth (or not), then if you’re using an oven-proof pan, remove it from the heat and cover it with the mozzarella cheese, then sprinkle on the Parmesan. Since everything is already hot at this point, you should only need to bake it for about 15 minutes to melt the cheese – you could also consider putting it under the broiler for a minute or 2 to brown and crisp it up. When you’re ready to eat, sprinkle on the parsley and dive in. I served this with some garlic bread for the girls, but Brock and I thoroughly enjoyed it straight up in a bowl.
- Category: Beans
