Vegan Tuscan Bean Recipe - Cannellini Beans with Gremolata
Tuscan Cannellini Beans with Gremolata
The Italians know how to make these beans with elegance!
Serve by themselves, or with a crispy skin white fish that is in season!
Three important elements to this dish
First, the texture is very important! Then, the subtleties of herbaceous flavors, and the brightness from the finishing olive oil!
The above photo was taken at my Italian Spring Dinner.
Read about it here and see my inspiration for cooking these beans.
First, the texture! They must be cooked slowly with the salt added at the right time to keep the inside creamy and the outside firm. You don’t want them mushy!
The subtlety of the favors comes from the herbs in the cooking water. There is nothing complicated about the flavors… no stock, no over-doing it, just simple local flavors. Whether in Portland Oregon, or Provence, France, I use the herbs available to me. Here in Portland I have a fresh bay leaf tree, but you can use dried bay leaves as well. And in both places, I have a sage plant in which I throw some leaves into my bean water. And of course, crushed garlic :) .
The brightness on the palate is the olive oil. So use your best! I use a Sicilian extra virgin olive oil. It adds a bit of creaminess to the beans. You can have them just like that, or also add a Gremolata, which is how I served them in the dinner above and below.
In the photo above, the Poisson 5-course dinner in January, we started with a wild mushroom bisque (photographed), and followed with the Tuscan beans. Click here to see the whole menu. It was quite a success. In fact, that dinner sold out so fast, I did two of the exact same dinners back to back.
The Recipe and Method
My recipes are not always measured. I go by feel, so take everything with a “grain of salt”.
Please let me know if you like the recipe and how it turned out! You can email me or post a comment or photo below! Thank you!
I use a cast iron Staub pot to cook the beans because on the stove top or in the oven, the heat is distributed more evenly.
I generally cook for 12 people, so my photographs are in large pots! One and a half pounds of beans is enough for twelve portions, especially with a 5 or 6 course dinner. The recipe below is good for 6 to 8 people depending on your portions. Of course, if you are going to the effort, you might as well have left overs!
Cannellini beans
Ingredients:
One Pound Dried Cannellini Beans - or Great Northern White Beans
12 garlic cloves, pealed and slightly smashed
12 bay leaves (I like to use a mixture of dried and fresh. Fresh bay leaves are stronger and my dried bay leaves are from Turkey that I purchase from Penzeys.)
6 fresh sage leaves
A tablespoon of olive oil - or more.
Optional: 1/2 carrot and 1/2 celery stick. To be taken out after cooked. They add another simple element to the cooking water, but it’s not needed. If I have extra in my refrigerator, I add them. But it’s not essential.
Kosher salt
High quality olive oil
Method:
First, clean beans, rinse, and soak in plenty of water overnight.
The next day, rinse the beans in a large bowl of water at least three times. You can’t over rinse the beans, but you can under rinse them.
Put beans in a large pot with about 10-12 cups of water.
Add garlic, bay leaves, sage leaves and a tablespoon of olive oil. Also the carrot and celery if using.
Turn timer on for 30 minutes. Bring pot to a boil, then turn to a very low simmer and cover.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees
After a total of 30 minutes on the stove top, add a tablespoon of salt (up to you… maybe less, maybe more) and stir.
Cover and put in oven for another 30 minutes.
Check after 30 minutes. They may need to stay in up to 15 minutes more. Cannellinni beans take longer than White Northern Beans.
Take beans out of oven and take lid off. Let cool slightly.
With a ladle, reserve a cup or two of the cooking liquid.
Remove bay leaves, sage leaves, garlic cloves and carrot and celery and strain beans.
If serving without the Gremolata, add olive oil and some of the cooking liquid until the consistency is what you want. Then top with black pepper and more high quality olive oil.
If adding the Gremolata, see below.
Black cod on top of Great Northern White Bean with Gremolata.
Gremolata
OK… I’ll admit… I taste all of the time, and eye everything. So, I don’t have measurements here. But go with your gut and what you love. You can see my basic ratios from my photographs.
Ingredients:
Olive Oil
Lemon Zest and a little juice
Parsley
Garlic paste (finely chopped garlic, then add salt on top while chopping, then press the garlic with the side of a knife repeatedly until a paste appears)
Red Chili Flakes
Salt
Method…
Wash and dry the parsley leaves. Separate leaves from stem and chop.
Heat half of the olive oil on the stove top until hot (not boiling!). Turn off heat and move off of the burner. Add garlic paste and red pepper flakes. Stir in, then add the lemon zest and stir. It’s important to have the oil at the right temperature. If it’s too hot, the garlic will burn and change the flavor profile tremendously. So think of simply warming the oil to bring out the flavors without cooking it.
In another bowl, add parsley and olive oil. The greens will turn color if too warm with the lemon juices. So if you want it to look pretty, keep the two separate until the last minute. If you are not concerned about that, go ahead and mix them together. The flavors are better then.
Finalizing…
OK… now you have four bowls to put together and the olive oil to add at the end. First, the flavorful beans, then add the garlic and parsley mixture. Add some of the bean water if needed for extra moisture. And finish with the extra virgin olive oil.