Cranberry Beans a la Slow-Paced Monday Dinner (with pesto or other things)(about 2 servings+tomorrow's lunch,)
1 pound in-shell cranberry beans: shell and rise them, discarding any small, blackish or funny looking beans
in a big pot, bring to a boil about 4 cups water with a half-onion, a bay leaf, garlic, oregano from mom's yard, rosemary from a failed housewarming plant, ground pepper.
Add cranberry beans and cover partially, turn heat down to a simmer, for about 25-40 minutes (ours took more like 40, but we started tasting for firmness at 25). Stir regularly. The good thing about beans is that they just sit and simmer, so you can do other things like watch TV
when you're getting impatient and the beans are almost done, that is, they are soft, the skins aren't too chewy and hopefully they're acquiring a good flavor, approximately the last 5 minutes of cooking, add a splash of hot sauce and about a 1/2 tbs kosher salt. Don't add salt earlier, it makes the beans tough
scoop out the beans with a slotted spoon, and put in serving dish. dress with olive oil, lots of pepper and about 1tbs kosher salt, a heaping spoon full of pesto (homemade with walnuts, leftover from the the night before) and a splash of red wine vinegar, to taste.
We served with a fried egg, summer tomato (for me) and cheese toast.
now, there's probably about 100000 ways you could do this differently. it's inspired by this completely different recipe, but gardeny phil also suggested you dress the beans with (instead of pesto/red wine vinegar) shallots and balsamic. j-a-a would probably put fennel seed and tomatoes in; i'm down with that, and dave def would've added butter. parmasean on top of everything would be nice. jen might've served it with the gifted produce of her fellow gardeners. or maybe nuts?
how do you end up with it?
