BROTHY BEANS! A super perfect, toasty, brothy, soupy bean recipe for a chilly insulation-free I.V. night. Yes, it takes a long time. But, it’s a set-it-and-forget-it kind of recipe and all good things take time. The beans and mushrooms are perfectly soft, warm and umami, the toast is crunchy and the scallions are fresh; they’re a really great winter meal since they fill you up and warm you from inside.
Alice Bilyk / Daily Nexus
Ingredients:
- 1 cup beans (of your choosing, I used pinto)
- 2 cups stock
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- ½ white onion, diced
- 6 sage leaves
- 2 cups small whole mushrooms (I used shiitakes)
- 1 scallion
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Toast
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Soak beans for 8 hours or overnight. If you do not want to soak your beans overnight, don’t worry, they’ll just take a little longer in the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. In a deep baking dish approximately 8 x 8 or 9 x 9, add your beans, garlic cloves, stock, olive oil, 4 whole sage leaves, onion, salt and pepper. Stir lightly and cover the dish in foil tightly. Bake for approximately 90 minutes.
- At 90 minutes, check the beans, uncover and bake until tender. This will take anywhere from another 90 minutes to 2 hours, depending on whether the beans were soaked.
- Approximately 5 minutes before the beans are done, salt your mushrooms and pan-fry them until golden. If you have any leftover stock, feel free to add a little (maybe a tablespoon). Salt and pepper to taste if needed.
- Once the beans are fork-tender, take them out of the oven and let them rest for 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms and chopped scallion. Toast and butter a few pieces of bread and serve topped with the beans and mushrooms.
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These beans would be great in any form. On their own, on toast, on rice, as a side, etc. For reheating, I just refried them in a pot with some of the broth until they warmed through. Feel free to modify this recipe in any way with whatever you have in your kitchen. Enjoy!
A version of this article appeared on p. 10 of the January 13, 2022 print edition of the Daily Nexus.
