Cannellini Beans with Lemon and Poblano Peppers
So, we meet again and this time it’s over a bowl of beans!
Dave and I set out to make our first batch of proper beans after watching a Bon Appetit beans episode. It’s something Dave has always wanted to try, but also wondered if all that work was worth it for, well, beans. The good news is it’s 100% worth it! So, Dave decided to do his own take on beans and create a recipe that reflects our tastes. This recipe may be a bit time consuming, but it makes a large batch that’s even better as leftovers.
BEFORE YOU MAKE THIS READ HERE! We learned one thing after making this that we changed in the recipe. There was a slight bitter taste to our soup that we couldn’t place. It turns out we put the poblanos in too early and they give a bitter taste in long cooks. When you make this, wait until the end to add them to your soup. This also eliminated the need for butter as we only added it to counter the bitter taste.
I also highly recommend adding a soft boiled egg at the end as that would really make this next level, assuming you’re not vegan. A vegan aioli would work great, too!
To be honest, of everything we learned while making this recipe, the most important was the bread crumbs. We did some larger pieces as well and we ended up with the most delicious croutons I’ve ever had. And it’s so easy! I will never stop making my own croutons now. It’s the best way to avoid wasting stale bread and it only takes five minutes.
INGREDIENTS
1 package cannellini beans
A lot of salt (you’ll use it throughout, so keep it close)
½ cup olive oil
4 tbs butter (optional)
1 onion
2 poblano peppers
2 cloves garlic minced
Chili flakes
Ground pepper
Oregano
Chives
2 lemons
2 tbs Red wine vinegar
Stale bread or just bread in general
Soft boiled egg to garnish (optional)
DIRECTIONS
- Soak your beans in a pot of water overnight. Fill the post half way full over water. It needs to cover the beans a time and a half.
- In the same water, simmer beans on low for roughly 2 hours. Add salt and continually add more as you stack ingredients.
- Caramelize onions on medium low heat. This should take 30-45 minutes. Onions are finished when they are relatively dark brown.
- Roast your poblano peppers. Grilling is the easiest method, but you can also put them in the oven on broil or set on a gas burner. Peppers are done when the outside has a dark char. Once cooled, remove skin.
- Once the beans are foamy, remove the foam from the top of the water.
- Add olive oil, chives, oregano, ground pepper and minced garlic to your beans.
- Halve your lemons. Char two lemons on a cast iron skillet. Get your skillet very hot then place the lemons face down on the skillet. Remove when slightly blackened.
- Squeeze lemon juice in the beans (careful not to get the seeds in there) and toss the two lemons in once squeezed.
- Add butter, if you like. It gives an extra creamy taste, but is not necessary.
- Add red wine vinegar
- Make crunchy bits! Take a few slices of stale bread (or any bread) and process in a food processor until chopped into small pieces. Then move the bread to a pan with 1tbs olive oil and fry until golden brown.
- After roughly 2 hours of cook time, your beans should be done. I would check them after the first hour and then every 15 minutes to see if the broth is ready and the beans are creamy. Don’t forget to continue salting to taste throughout the process.
- Add chopped poblano peppers to your beans.
- Serve your bean soup in a bowl with a hefty serving of bread crumbs on top. You can also add a soft boiled egg on the top for some next level delicious.
We make the both the beans and the onions in these dutch ovens:
The bowls we used:
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