the simplest beans you will ever make
and places that influenced me to make them!
guys, i know i talk a lot about beans and for sure, at this point they are becoming a personality trait. but i can’t quite express enough, just how much i love them. just how versatile they are and honestly, just how good they are for you.
this recipe is a little respite from all of the holiday food and hosting intensity—of which i am sure we can all do with a little breather from right now.
these beans were inspired by three different bean experiences of mine. yes, i am about to write about three separate bean experiences of mine. and honestly, i could write about more, but i thought three memories were enough for one substack.
but more to the point, i hope my writings about said beans evoke the sense of just how much i love all beans. in all of their different shapes and sizes, brothy or no broth, i love them just as much in a soup as i do in a salad. indeed, i love them on their own, simply drizzled with a ton of olive oil, salt and black pepper. and, i love them blended into a sauce or dip. truly any which way, i love them.
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beans have been a staple, relatively cheap source of sustainable eating and cookery for as long as time can remember.
to quote dan buettner ‘beans reign supreme in the blue zones and are the cornerstone of every longevity diet in the world’. and he is correct, they infiltrate every culture from mexico, to italy, to egypt to japan. it’s quite amazing really.
beans are considered a healthy food because they are packed with nutrients like fiber, protein, iron, folate, and other essential vitamins and minerals, making them beneficial for gut health, heart health, blood sugar control, and can also help with weight management due to their high fiber content which keeps you feeling full for longer; all while being low in fat and cholesterol.
so, if it wasn’t clear yet, i love beans—and for many of these reasons we talked about above, but mostly because they taste so great and are incredibly versatile.
pizzeria remo, rome
if you have been here a while, i have talked about pizzeria remo before.
it was our last day in rome, summer of ‘22. we had been walking around the city all afternoon and were quite famished. after a pit stop for a couple of sprtiz’s each and a measly bowl of nuts, we decided we needed something more substantial.
i can’t quite remember how we found this place—perhaps somebody recommended it, or maybe, i think, we had just googled a few nearby pizza places with good reviews. anyway, we knew it was in a cool neighborhood, hence the reason for being in that neighborhood in the first place, and therefore, likely to be good. not cool in the sense that it was filled with tourists and touristy things, it was cool to us for quite the opposite reason.
‘the neighborhood of testaccio is known for it’s authentic roman atmosphere and is home to several renowned restaurants that specialize in traditional roman cuisine. in modern times, the area became a center of activity for butchers. testaccio was one of rome's traditional working-class neighborhoods.’
regardless of it being subject to the realms of gentrification, it was a pretty neighborhood and didn’t feel too touristy to us at all. we were our enjoying testaccio strolls very much that day.
we sat down for pizza and we were truly the only non-italians in the restaurant—which is rare for early summer in rome. the menu was in italian only but we could just about piece it together. it was super quite when we sat down but every table began to swiftly fill up with families and cute couples on dates. it was quite magical to watch.
anyway—we were there for the pizza, but boy did we stay for the beans!
we ordered a pizza each, and a salad to share but, i couldn’t resist ordering the ‘fagioli’.
the beans were so incredibly simple but insanely delicious. they had been cooked simply with a little carrot, onion and celery, then finished with a drizzle of really good olive oil and flaky salt. i was so taken with these beans, i had to re-create them the moment we got home and this is where my recipe ‘simple roman fagioli’ was born.
i think what really took me aback with these particular beans were in essence, just how simple they were. no intense herbs or flavorings. it really felt like they had just been cooked with the few vegetables that i had mentioned and salt. and they were amazing.
king, nyc
i have talked about king before too. this particular meal was our first time at king, but it was absolutely not our last.
i think king is perhaps my favorite restaurant in nyc, currently. it’s my idea of a perfect restaurant.
maybe it is because of it’s two female chefs are british and both river cafe and ballymaloe alum, or maybe it is because their food really resinates with me so much. no doubt king has simple food. simple but at the same time nuanced and delicious.
it reminds me of places that my grandad robin would take us for sunday lunch when i was much younger. something about king feels like home.
this meal in particular, was one of the most incredible that i have had the pleasure of eating at king. it was my first time trying their panisse (a fried, chickpea-flour stick known in the south of france) and carta de musica (a sardinian cracker meaning “sheets of music”. sardinian sheep herdsmen ate these crackers while they worked the hills of sardinia).
both of which, were quite life changing. the panisse comes with fried sage and really embodies the spirit of the south of france. i can’t really describe what i mean by that, but if you have been—you’ll understand too. and the carta de musica come smothered in really good olive oil, so much flaky salt and fried rosemary. my idea of absolute heaven.
we then ordered a steak to share that came with lentils and some braised greens, and then we ordered to coco beans on the side. they came simply adorned with some fresh oregano and a genrous glug of really good olive oil and salt.
they were life-changing.
perfectly tender with so much flavor. we both could not get over how much we loved these beans. and the same thing rang true—it really felt like they had only been cooked with perhaps some carrot, celery and salt. similar to remo.
there was a pattern developing here—a pattern my palate was familiar with and loved.
simplicity.
rose pizzeria, berkeley
wow. where do i begin with rose pizzeria.
again, if you have been here a while, you’ll know about my love of rose. my friend ethaney recommend it to me a while back and quite honestly i saw that she was there all the time, and so i knew it must have been good—ethaney has fantastic taste.
i went with my dear friends maddy and djelissa, and what a cute afternoon we had.
we ordered (of course) pizza. some of the best pizza i have ever eaten—and i have eaten a lot of pizza. it’s thin-ish, crispy and very charred—almost reminiscent of new haven style apizza, but the base is slightly more dense than apizza.
but we also ordered their exquisite calabrian chili spiced caesar salad and of course—the beans. butter beans, to be specific.
the beans came with charred feta and braised baby artichokes. but the beans themselves were simple. i could tell they had been cooked really simply, due their clean but incredibly well seasoned taste from within. these beans had been salted at the start of cooking, just like i like to do it. they were served with a little salad of just parsley and raw red onion that had been dressed very gently with a kiss of champagne vinegar and flaky salt.
it was transformative.
recipe—the simplest beans you will ever make
and so all of that has informed this recipe. if you can even call it a recipe that is. but, still to this day it is one of the best bean recipes i have ever made.
based on all of my learnings above, i needed to cook them as simply as possible. and that i did. with just a little celery and salt—and that truly was it. i made little parsley and red onion salad to dress the beans afterward, but that was all.
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the beans
1 lb of your choice of bean (i like coco, chickpea, butter or borlotti for this recipe in particular)
water
2 tbsp of salt
2 stalks celery
olive oil
parsley salad
1/2 bunch of parsley
1/2 red onion
salt
pepper
2 tbsp champagne vinegar
olive oil
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ideally, begin by soaking the beans in a bowl big enough to hold them, for at least 24 hours before cooking. soak them in filtered water, just covered to the top so that the beans are submerged. you can also just cook from dry, it will just take a little longer.
if soaking the night before, discard the soaking liquid before cooking.
in a heavy-bottomed pan with a lid (i like a dutch oven for beans), place the drained beans along with more water, that covers the beans by about 2 inches. add in the 2 tablespoons of salt and both celery stalks.
set the heat to high to bring everything to a rolling boil, once boiling turn the heat down to medium-low and the water should be at a very slow simmer. pop the lid on and walk away for now.
i would check on the beans every 30 minutes or so, to make sure they constantly have enough water. they should always be just about submerged with what with soon become bean broth.
the cooking time will really depend on what type of bean you are using. but the beans are done when they are fork tender but not falling apart. they should be able to smoosh between your fingers quite easily, but still stay in tact to pick up.
before serving, roughly chop the parsley and combine with the thinly sliced red onion in a bowl. drizzle over the olive oil, vinegar and salt and scrunch and few times with your hands to combine and soften the parsley a little.
serve the beans in your favorite bowl, with the parsley salad on top with a drizzle more olive oil, loads of black or white pepper and flaky salt.
enjoy!
Love this. I share your passion for beans & had the same experience recently in Athens with a bowl of chickpeas. So simple but incredible, brothy, beautiful creamy giant chickpeas, plenty of olive oil, black pepper. Heavenly. I’ve recreated since, it’s so simple but deeply satisfying. Just what you need every time.