White Beans with Rosemary and Garlic

White Beans with Rosemary and Garlic

INGREDIENTS: (makes 3 cups beans)

1 cup dried white beans (cannelloni, white runner, Great Northern, navy and so on)

Salt

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon coarsely chopped rosemary leaves

INSTRUCTIONS:

Soak beans overnight in 4 cups water*, drain and transfer to a heavy pot.  Add water to cover by 2 inches.  Bring to a boil.  Lower the heat and skim off any foam.  Simmer gently for 2 hours or so, until the beans are tender.  Add more water if necessary during the cooking.  Season with salt to taste.

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan or skillet, warm olive oil over low heat and add chopped garlic and rosemary.

Cook just until the garlic is soft, about 2 minutes.  Stir into the beans, taste for salt, and adjust as needed.  Let the dish sit for a few minutes before serving to allow the flavors to marry.

Variation:  Leaves of either sage or winter or summer savory are delicious substitutes for rosemary.

* Soak beans overnight by covering with three times as much water as beans.  This keeps beans from poking up above the surface when they have absorbed water and swelled. If all the beans were not completely submerged overnight some will cook at a different rate than others and you’ll end up with overdone and underdone beans in the same pot.  Drain after soaking and use fresh water for cooking them.

Recipe by Alice Waters from book “The Art of Simple Food”