Fasoles: Slow-Cooked Beans and Garden Vegetables

Name: Fasoles: Slow-Cooked Beans and Garden Vegetables
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 2 h 45 min
Total time: 3 h
Cuisine: European, Mediterranean
Ingredients: 500g dried white beans (white kidney, cannellini, haricot), or 4x400g jars/tins of beans; 2 onions; 4 carrots; 4 celery sticks; 1 leek; 400g waxy potatoes, Cyprus ideally; 100ml olive oil; 2 heaped tablespoons tomato purée; 5 flat-leaf parsley sprigs, plus extra, optional, for serving; 2 bay leaves; Sea salt and finely ground black pepper; Extra virgin olive oil – to finish (this is important, please don’t leave this out)

9 steps

Prep:15minCook:2h 45min

Fasoles can be a hard recipe to sell; as a bean stew, it can be just fine or it can be incredible. If you’ve ever been to Greece or Cyprus you will know that the simple, often tomatoey, soft beans are always one of the best dishes in a taverna. There are three key steps to elevating this from fine to incredible: sauté the base vegetables until they are sweet; cook the beans low and slow; and, most importantly, do not be shy with the olive oil. It is crucial to the flavour of the dish, as is finishing it with a slick of extra virgin olive oil. I’m not here to lecture you on good and bad fats, but olive oil is often cited as a factor in the Mediterranean lifestyle being one of the healthiest in the world. Plus, if you are adopting a plant-based diet, short or long term, then it is essential that it is well balanced, and that includes fats.

Updated at: Thu, 17 Aug 2023 09:48:31 GMT

Nutrition balance score

Great

Glycemic Index

Low

Glycemic Load

High

Nutrition per serving

Calories397.5 kcal (20%)

Total Fat14.4 g (21%)

Carbs53.4 g (21%)

Sugars4.9 g (5%)

Protein16.5 g (33%)

Sodium133.3 mg (7%)

Fiber12.3 g (44%)

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Ingredients

8 servings

500gdried white beans

white kidney, cannellini, haricot

400gwaxy potatoes

Cyprus ideally

100mlolive oil

2 heaped tablespoonstomato purée

5flat-leaf parsley sprigs

plus extra, optional, for serving

Extra virgin olive oil

to finish, this is important, please don’t leave this out

Instructions

Step 1

Start the night before by soaking the dried beans in plenty of cold water.

Step 2

The next day, crudely chop the onions and carrots. Trim and slice the celery sticks and leek into pieces 1–1.5cm thick. The vegetables are to be celebrated, not just a base, so you don’t want to chop them finely.

Step 3

Rinse the leek slices thoroughly in a colander to get rid of any dirt. Peel the potatoes and cut into 3cm chunks.

Step 4

Place a large flameproof casserole or saucepan over medium-low heat and add the olive oil. Add the chopped onion, carrot, celery and leek to the pan and sauté for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they’re losing moisture and turning sweet and starting to soften.

Step 5

Stir in the potatoes and tomato purée and fry for a couple of minutes.

Step 6

Boil a full kettle of water. Add the drained dried or tinned beans to the other vegetables. Pour in enough boiling water to cover everything by 2cm.

Step 7

Add the parsley sprigs, bay leaves and season generously with salt and pepper – around a teaspoon of each – and bring back to a boil. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 2½ hours, until the beans are tender.

Step 8

Remove the lid, and if the beans are looking liquidy, turn the heat up and bubble away for about 15 minutes, so that the fasoles become creamy and the liquid reduces and thickens. Taste and add more seasoning as required. Ideally leave the beans to sit for a few hours before serving, or even better overnight, as they become more delicious with time.

Step 9

Serve with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a gesture of chopped parsley, if you like.