Slowly cooked beans with thyme, sage and oregano
Words & Photography by Marieke Verdenius
Marieke Verdenius works as a photographer and food stylist. She studied fashion, marketing and art direction but was always drawn to cooking and photography. She even considered opening her own bakery after finishing her studies. But when her career took a turn towards editorial work and she started working for a culinary magazine, everything fell into place. Today Marieke works freelance for individual makers, international magazines and lifestyle brands. Besides her freelance assignments, Marieke co-founded ‘The Gatherists’, a platform that connects and re-connects fellow creatives over slow coffee and home baked cake.
Slowly cooked beans with thyme, sage and oregano
Every Saturday I enjoy visiting the organic Farmers Market in Amsterdam. I really like the atmosphere over there, it feels like everybody has time to wander around, while sipping a coffee and have a chat every now and then. Well, at least that’s my experience! One of my favourite – and very popular - stalls only sells the most beautiful and delicious fresh herbs, like verbena, thyme, tarragon, sage, parsley, basil and edible flowers. I simply got inspired with their range of winter herbs so I decided to use four different ones in this comfort food recipe.
Ingredients
250 g dried white beans, like cannellini or lima beans
2 cloves of garlic, peeled, one crushed and one finely chopped
1 bay leaf
1 big shallot (or a few smaller ones), peeled and cut into four
few sprigs of thyme
freshly ground pepper
pinch of sea salt
extra virgin olive oil
knob of unsalted butter
fresh sage leaves
fresh oregano leaves
optional: freshly grated Parmesan
optional: a few slices of sourdough bread, toasted
Instructions
Rinse the dried white beans. Soak the beans for at least 8 hours in a large bowl or pan filled with water. Make sure there is at least 5 cm of water covering them as they will swell while soaking.
Drain the beans and place them in a pot with the crushed garlic, bay leaf, shallot, sprigs of thyme, freshly ground pepper and a pinch of salt. Cover the beans in water, make sure that you add plenty, approximately 2.5 litres.
Bring the beans to a boil, then lower the temperature, put a lit on the pan and let it simmer until the beans are tender. This can take at least two hours. Make sure to check every now and then if there still is enough water in the pan. Otherwise add some hot boiled water.
Put of the heat and drain the beans, but save the cooking liquid. Remove the thyme, shallot and bay leaf. Set aside.
Meanwhile, roughly chop some oregano leaves. Heat a splash of oil and a knob of butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat, then fry the finely chopped garlic and the sage leafs until crisp. Remove the leafs to garnish and add the beans to the pan. Let everything cook for a few minutes and add a some cooking liquid to the pan. Stir well and season to taste.
Serve the beans in a bowl and Finnish with a splash of olive oil, the fried sage and oregano leaves.
Tip: If you like, you can serve the beans with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a slice of toasted sourdough bread on the side.
