Marinated Butter Beans
A reliable, weeknight-friendly method to elevate canned beans
This is one of those recipes I’ve been riffing on for a couple months now, and I’ve made a bunch of different versions of it. It’s a great weeknight staple, and it reliably turns canned beans into something to get excited about.
I love beans, but I generally find canned beans to be a little boring. If you’ve never made dried beans from scratch, it’s worth doing. You really haven’t experienced beans at their best until you do. For that I recommend Rancho Gordo’s excellent method. My favorite quote:
Keep the beans at a boil for about ten to fifteen minutes. After so many years, I think this is the moment that really matters. You have to give them a good hard boil to let them know you’re the boss and then reduce them to a gentle simmer, before covering.
It turns out he’s right— you do have to let the beans know you’re the boss with a hard boil to start. He’s also ambivalent about whether or not to soak the beans beforehand— I usually do simply because it reduces the cooking time. I’ve been making beans this way for years, and they’re always great.
The problem with dried beans is that they take forever to cook, so they’re not very convenient. To that end, I’ve found that dressing up canned beans with a ton of olive oil, some spices, shaved cheese, and fresh herbs is a game changer.
I usually make this with butter beans or Cannellini beans— I think their flavor profile works best here, and they hold their structure well. I think this would also be great with chickpeas, and you can certainly play around with other mixtures of spices, herbs, and cheeses!
Ingredients
1 can of butter beans
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
1-2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Fresh-cracked black peppercorn
lemon juice or vinegar
Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
salt
olive oil
Process
Drain the beans into a fine mesh strainer and run them under some cold water to rinse them off. Shake off the excess water, and then pour them into a bowl.
Add in a generous amount of olive oil— probably more than you think you need. They should be very well-coated, plus a bit extra.
Add in the smoked paprika, sweet paprika, and several twists of fresh-cracked black pepper. Season the whole mixture with salt.
Pour the beans into a small saucepan, using a spatula to make sure all of the oil goes with.
Place the saucepan over low to medium-low heat. At this point, you want to gently warm the beans up. Not aggressively, but just enough to heat them through and to allow the spices to open up and infuse with the oil. This should take 5-10 minutes.
Once the beans are warm, taste them. Adjust as needed with more salt.
Take the beans off the heat, and season them to taste with a squeeze of lemon juice or a splash of vinegar (I used this Chardonnay vinegar).
Add in the chopped parsley, and then mix everything together to incorporate.
Pour the whole mixture onto a plate, and then finish it with a generous grating of shaved Pecorino or Parmigiano.
Enjoy immediately. Lately I’ve been serving this as a side dish along with roasted baby broccoli with balsamic vinegar and Italian sausages.
