Buttery white beans are an inexpensive filler for simple dishes.
One of the staple ingredients in my pantry is canned, cooked white beans – the generic term for great northern, cannellini, coco blanc, haricot and lima beans. Although imports of non-heat-treated beans have been banned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, this really doesn’t matter as these untreated beans remain hard and unpleasant when cooked. Canned beans, on the other hand, are a great substitute for dried, because they don’t require overnight soaking or pre-cooking.
With their smooth texture and lingering buttery and nutty flavours, white beans are an ideal and inexpensive filler for simple dishes. Although the beans are perfect to serve with grilled meats, I also like to use them in dishes that combine meat and seafood, as this variation on the French classic cassoulet here demonstrates. The word cassoulet refers to the name of the dish it is cooked in – the cassole – but I have used a shallow oval-shaped ovenproof dish.
Serve the cassoulet straight from the cooking dish, with the shellfish and spicy chorizo sausage bubbling away under a golden, aromatic crust of breadcrumbs.
SEAFOOD CASSOULET
100ml white wine
400g seafood, such as prawns, oysters,
mussels, clams and fish
200g unsalted butter
1 tsp chopped garlic
¼ leek, finely chopped
½ onion, finely chopped
½ carrot, peeled and finely chopped
100g bacon
150g chorizo sausage
400g tin cooked white beans, drained
1 medium potato, peeled and diced
2 tomatoes, squeezed to remove the
seeds, and chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme
1 tsp chopped fresh parsley
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp soft breadcrumbs
Preheat the oven to 180?C. Put the wine and any shellfish into a saucepan and heat until they open. Remove the shellfish, reserving the juices (this will be the shellfish stock). Remove the meat from the shells and set aside. Melt the butter in a deep saucepan, then add the garlic, leek and onion. Cook until soft and golden brown, then add the carrot and cook until it looks shiny and soft. Add the bacon and chorizo and cook until fragrant. Add the beans, potato and tomato with enough shellfish stock to just cover the beans. Bring to a simmer then cook for 10 minutes before adding the herbs. Transfer the contents to a deep casserole dish. Add the shellfish and fish, pushing them well down into the beans. Sprinkle the surface of the cassoulet with the breadcrumbs and place the dish in the oven. Cook for about 20 minutes or until the crust is golden and the liquid has reduced. Serve immediately, accompanied by green salad and crusty bread.
Serves 6.
THE MISO MARINADE used here is great with any pork belly dish, as it adds a sweet, malty flavour. I also enjoy combining a luxury ingredient with an inexpensive one and seeing how well two seemingly different flavours – the prawns and the pork – marry once cooked. Just think surf’n'turf or the carpetbag steak with its filling of raw oysters.
MISO-BRAISED PORK BELLY WITH PRAWNS AND WHITE BEANS
1.5kg pork belly, skin and bones
removed
MISO MARINADE
3 tbsp miso paste
1 tbsp mustard, preferably dijon-style
3 tbsp mirin (rice wine similar to sake)
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
PORK BELLY
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 knob of ginger, peeled and sliced
4 garlic cloves, peeled
200ml white wine
2.5 litres water
Mix all the marinade ingredients to a smooth paste. Cover the pork with marinade, massaging it in well, then refrigerate overnight. The next day, heat the oven to 160?C. Scatter the carrot, onion, celery, ginger and garlic over the base of a shallow roasting pan that is big enough to hold the pork. Pour in the wine and water and bring to a boil on a stovetop element. Place the pork on top and bring it back to the boil, skimming off any foamy surface scum. Cover the pork with greaseproof paper then tinfoil. Place the pork in the oven and cook for 3 hours. Remove the pan from the oven and carefully lift the pork out onto a tray. Strain the stock into a saucepan and discard the vegetables. Bring the stock to a gentle simmer and let it reduce to a light, syrupy consistency – about 10-15 minutes. While the stock is reducing, use 2 forks to shred the meat into thick strands. Collect any juices and add to the stock.
TO FINISH
2 tbsp unsalted butter
18 prawns, peeled
½ head of cabbage, sliced finely
400g tinned white beans, well rinsed
100g unsalted butter to finish the sauce
Heat a large frying pan and melt the first quantity of butter. Add the prawns and sauté until cooked – about 3 minutes. Remove the prawns from the pan and add the cabbage. Cook until it has wilted but is still slightly crunchy. Add the beans, pork, prawns and the reduced stock and bring to a simmer. Add the 100g of butter, gently shaking the pan to swirl it through the sauce. Serve in one large bowl or individual bowls.
Serves 6.