Category: beans

The Austerity Kitchen Challenge: Giant White Bean Stew

Greek white beans, a.k.a. gigantes

Greek white beans, otherwise known as gigantes, are large, slightly sweet beans that are perfect in soups and stews. Authentic Greek recipes use them in slow-cooked stews flavored with fresh herbs. It is important that one procure only the freshest beans as that will cut down on the time spent cooking them.

For this month’s Austerity Kitchen Challenge, the Kitchen has developed a version of a tasty traditional Greek bean stew. Substitute large lima beans for the giant Greek beans if you are unable to locate them. Feel free to experiment with different herbs and spices.

Giant White Bean Stew

1 1/2 pounds dried giant white beans
1/2 cup olive oil
2 small onions
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 bunch celery, chopped
5 large tomatoes, chopped
3/4 cup tomato sauce, or meatless pasta sauce
2 cups water
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried mint
1 teaspoon rosemary
2 teaspoons thyme
3/4 cup finely chopped parsley

Soak the beans overnight and then cook them until almost tender in unsalted water. Put all ingredients, except for the parsley, in a crock pot (or you can bake the beans at 400 degrees F for forty minutes) and cook until beans are tender and sauce is thick. Once dish is ready, stir in parsley and serve hot (or, for a more traditional dish, serve the bean stew at room temperature with thick slices of Greek or Italian bread).

 
Why Fast and Fermented Foods by Christine Baumgarthuber

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And, if you’d like to help the Kitchen keep cookin’, please consider picking up copies of my books, Why Fast? and Fermented Foods.

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A Novel Delight: Bean Porridge

black bean (castanospermumaustrale)– illustration

“It is the fashion nowadays to descry this staple food of our grandmothers,” the author of an 1889 Good Housekeeping article confesses of the bean. “Beans are said to be coarse, indigestible,” she continues, “[and] only suitable for the laboring classes.” Yet she also admits that the humble bean possesses many virtues: “they are most nutritious, appetizing, healthful and economical, not only for stout men and boys, but for delicate women and children as well.” A pound of beans “contains nearly six ounces of heat-producing properties and half an ounce of flesh-forming food.”

The author ends her “dissertation on beans” by urging the reader to try a most unusual dish capable of producing a “novel sensation of delight”: bean porridge. Cheap and nourishing, bean porridge will have husbands and growing boys calling for it “again and again.” And how does one prepare this wonderful and economical dish? The recipe is copied below.

Bean Porridge

In the beginning, wash five pounds of corned beef, put it in a kettle of cold water, let it heat slowly and simmer gently all day. At night remove the pot from the stove, so that the fat may harden at the top and be removed. Whether you remove the beef at night or wait till morning is optional, since the beef’s mission to the porridge is ended with the day’s boiling. If, however, you leave it in over night and then press it carefully, it has rather a better flavor and makes a delicious cold relish for breakfast or lunch, all which you have in addition to your porridge,–another item to score in favor of its economy.

Also pick over and put to soak one and one-half cupful of beans. Next morning remove the cake of fat from the liquor in the pot, add to it the beans, well rinsed, and two cupfuls of yellow hominy from which the hulls have been washed. Set all on the back of the stove and let it barely simmer for hours and hours, watching it carefully and stirring often, so that it will not burn. If it boils hard it will not be fit to eat. It is best to keep it just below the boiling point, without the slightest ebullition possible. A little bicarbonate of potash [baking soda] added to the porridge will make it more digestible, but is not absolutely necessary. After it has cooked five or six hours you may, if you cannot possibly wait for your new sensation, try a little for lunch the very same day. [The stew should, before serving,] be rubbed through a colander. It will form a very rich, thick puree.

 
Why Fast and Fermented Foods by Christine Baumgarthuber

Would you rather receive The Austerity Kitchen by email? Then sign up for my Substack.

And, if you’d like to help the Kitchen keep cookin’, please consider picking up copies of my books, Why Fast? and Fermented Foods.

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"Bean" Down So Long that It Looks Like Beef to Me

Here’s a tasty and economical dish from A Veggie Venture. There’s nothing cheaper, and more nutritious, than beans. The ham bone adds a touch of flavor — leave it out if you prefer your soup vegetarian. Serve this with a hunk of wholegrain sourdough bread. The price: About $6.50 for the entire meal. Not bad!

15-Bean Soup

Hands-on time: 5 minutes the night before, 15 minutes the next day
Time to table: 12 – 24 hours
Makes 11 cups


20 ounces assorted beans
1 big ham bone (my choice, but could use a couple of ham hocks or some sliced ham)
1 large onion, chopped
15 ounces canned diced tomato
1 teaspoon chili powder
Juice of a lemon (don’t skip this)
1 – 2 cloves garlic, minced (I used a tablespoon from a jar)
SPICE PACKET – I ignored this

NIGHT BEFORE: Rinse the beans and pick out any dried beans. Cover with 2 quarts of water and leave to soak overnight. The beans will expand about 3X so be sure your pot is big enough. Drain the water.

DAY OF: Put the beans in a very large pot or Dutch oven. Cover with two quarts of new water. Add the ham bone (or whatever you’re using) and onion. (The bag says to add the onion just a half hour before serving. To my taste, the onion was completely raw like that.) Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 2 1/2 hours. If a kind of scummy foam rises to the top, scrape it off with a slotted spoon and discard.

Add the tomatoes, garlic, chili powder and lemon juice and let simmer for another 30 – 60 minutes. At this point, Mary some times adds a can of drained and rinsed beans.

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