It’s another 9/11 here in New York City. Every year this day rolls around, the crazy quiet and the horrific smells and sights of that day are felt all over again. I hold my husband and my children a little closer and inwardly fall on my knees.
All of this leads me to making comfort food. This baked cranberry bean dish is my family’s sort of comfort food. While we have fresh beans at the market, they get put into a lot of our cooking around here. You can use Italian white beans, dried beans that you will cook or canned beans. You’ll just leave off the first part of the recipe where you tightly cover your beans and go on with the steaming off of the water. Dried basil and canned tomatoes can be substituted for the fresh when they are out of season. This is a dish that can ride out the winter.
I called them “pizza beans” for my Yummies. They eyed the larger pieces of shallots and picked them out, but the rest seemed to pass muster.
Have a wonderful weekend. I have not said it before, but I am very grateful to those of you who leave such lovely comments. It totally makes my day, my week, and really my year. Thank you!
Cranberry Beans Baked in Tomato
*3 c. fresh cranberry beans (or substitute dried+cooked or canned white beans)
*4 lbs. tomatoes, chopped
*4 shallots (or 1 c. onion), minced
*3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed with back of your knife
*a slosh of olive oil
*1 t. salt
*two handfuls of parsley, chopped
*a large handful of basil, chopped
*black pepper, to taste
*optional: grated Parmesan cheese
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
With your Yummy, shell the cranberry beans and place in a large bowl. Add the tomatoes, garlic, shallots, olive oil, parsley and basil and toss everything together. This the time for your mini-chef to use his or her hands!
Together, slowly pour the mixture into an oven-safe casserole or two glass baking pans.
Have your mini-chef pour in 2-3 cups of water very slowly, just till the water tops the bean mixture by 1/2-inch. Cover the beans with a heavy lid if using a casserole or tightly wrap the top with tin foil so that no water can escape during the first part of the cooking.
Big Person: Slide the beans into the oven. Bake 1 hour, covered and then uncover and bake another 45 minutes-1 hour (or a little less if you are using two pans). 90% of the water should steam off and the beans should be very tender when this is done.
