Braised Romano Beans with Cherry Tomatoes

I got Romano beans in my produce box this week and didn't know what they were.  So much so that I tried to eat one raw, thinking it was an overgrown sugar snap pea, which was unsuccessful, and then tried to peel it and eat the beans inside raw, thinking it was maybe more like an English pea, which was also unsuccessful.

All of which led to me having a bad taste in my mouth and finally breaking down and checking on the Organics to you website to figure out what exactly it was so that I could find a recipe and make them more palatable.  According to Deb at Smitten Kitchen, " Sort of broad and longer than snap peas, they’re also tougher and require a longer cooking time. "

Ahem, no wonder they were rubbish raw.  While I chose not to make the Smitten Kitchen recipe, her post did lead me to this excellent post on The Wednesday Chef, which I did make, albeit with some substitutions, because I didn't want to go to the store.    

I've written it below how I made it (substituting chorizo for pancetta and adding a couple of sad zucchini that needed to be cooked), but I trust you could make it either way with good results.  Also, my pictures are terrible (those are orange cherry tomatoes, but I cooked them too long), so go look at the pretty picture over on The Wednesday Chef.

I had some for dinner and then a whole bowlful for lunch the next day, and it was equally delicious both ways.  Much better than raw.

Braised Romano Beans with Cherry Tomatoes, originally from The Wednesday Chef:

1 link of chorizo sausage
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/4 cups chopped onion, about 1 medium or 1/2 large
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 1/2 pounds Romano beans, stems removed and cut into bite-sized lengths
1/4 cup wine/vinegar (optional, for deglazing)
1 tsp salt
2-3 zucchini, halved or quartered lengthwise and then sliced
1/2 pound cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 Tbsp minced fresh basil

Either halve or quarter chorizo link lengthwise and then slice.  Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat.  When the oil is hot, add the chorizo and cook until the meat is browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes.

Add the onions.  Cook until the onions are tender, about 3 minutes.  Add the garlic and Romano beans and stir with the onions and chorizo.  Deglaze the pan with the wine or vinegar if you are so inclined.  (Pour in the acid and stir up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.)  Add the salt and 3/4 cups water and reduce the heat to medium.

Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the beans are silky in texture and extremely flavorful, about 45 minutes.  If the mixture begins to cook dry, add a little more water.  (My pan lid is not tightly fitted, so I added an additional 3/4 cups of water twice in the 45 minute cooking time.)

When the beans are cooked, remove the lid, add the zucchini, and cook long enough to evaporate most of the remaining water, about 5 minutes.

Reduce the heat to low and add the cherry tomatoes.  Cook until they are warmed through (do not overcook like I did).  Stir in the basil and taste and correct for seasoning (ie more salt or pepper or red pepper chili flakes).  Serve either warm or at room temperature.

White Bean & Chorizo Soup with Greens

We've been getting a produce bin every other week for the last couple months and have had varying success getting through all the produce. We had leeks, carrots, celery, and a bunch of assorted greens sitting in the fridge, so I decided to make a big pot of soup earlier this week.

This recipe is easily adaptable, and would actually be really easy to make vegetarian by omitting the sausage and using vegetable broth. It's also super fast if you have a can of beans around as opposed to having to cook the beans yourself. I kind of borrowed from this recipe and this recipe, making adjustments for what we had in the house and for personal preference. Seeing as it was designed as a clean the fridge kind of meal, I was pleasantly surprised with how good it was, and now I've been eating it for lunch all week.

Recipe Notes: I stole the trick of adding your spices in with your onions/carrot/celery mix and letting them fry a little from Indian food, but I do it now in almost all my cooking because I think it really helps meld the flavors, even with a short cooking time. The general idea of this soup is to add the things that need some browning/the most cooking time first, then de-glaze your pot with the wine and/or diced tomatoes, before finally just wilting your greens and re-heating the precooked beans after adding your broth right at the end. Feel free to substitute up the wazoo on this recipe. I had leeks but no onions, but you could use either or shallots for that matter. I always have Basque chorizo in the house, but an italian sausage would be good too. The greens we had in the house were a bunch of collard greens, a bunch of broccoli rabe greens, and then I love the flavor of celery leaves in soups, so I threw those in with the greens at the end as well. If you're using collard greens, kale, or chard, make sure to de-rib the greens before chopping up the leaves, but you can dice up the chard stems and throw them in with the onion/carrot/celery mix at the beginning too.

White Bean & Chorizo Soup with Greens

Serves 4-6

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 leeks, white and light green parts, rinsed and cut into half-coins

2 carrots, rinsed and cut into half coins

4 celery stalks, rinsed and chopped

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

salt & pepper

2 chorizo sausages, cut into coins (optional)

1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)

1 can (14 oz.) diced tomatoes

4-5 cups broth or water

3 cups chopped greens (i.e. collard greens, kale, chard, spinach, celery leaves, broccoli rabe, etc)

1 can (14 oz.) white beans, drained and rinsed

In a large pot, add olive oil and heat on medium high. Add the chopped leeks, carrots, and celery stalks, as well as all your spices plus salt and pepper to your preference, and cook until softened, about 5-10 minutes, stirring every so often. Add your sausage (if using), and cook for another 5 minutes or until your sausage is cooked through.

De-glaze the pan by adding the wine and tomatoes (with their juices) and giving the whole pot a good stir, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Then add your broth or water and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer for 5-10 minutes and then add your greens and beans. Simmer long enough to wilt the greens and re-heat the beans, about 3-5 minutes.

Taste for salt and pepper and acid. (A couple of tablespoons of vinegar added at the end can really zhush up a soup if you feel the flavor is lacking - I would have used red wine vinegar here, but forgot to.) The soup is done when all your vegetables are cooked through and the greens are wilted.

Chorizo-Tomato Stew

I have been making this stew for a number of years now, because I almost always have all the ingredients on hand, and true to a Rachel Ray recipe, it is easy to throw together.

(Thanks to my great uncle in Idaho, most everyone in my family always has a backlog of Basque Chorizo in the freezer.)

Like most stews, it is super flexible and forgiving. I don't always poach an egg to go on top, but it is super delicious. The same thing goes for making the "garlic crouton" to put in the bottom of the bowl. I probably make it half the time, but there's already garlic in the stew, so the other half of the time I just serve it with bread to sop up all the delicious broth left over.

This time I threw in some fresh thyme because I had it and didn't add in too much spice because the Basque Chorizo is pretty flavorful. I also go back and forth on the zest and parsley topping, seen below. It is tasty and brightens up the dish, but sometimes I can't be bothered. When I made this the other day, I still had some of the rosemary olive oil left over from the mushroom barley soup, and so put that over the top instead.

Chorizo-Tomato Stew, originally from Rachel Ray:

Top photo mine, bottom photo via.