You may not recall, but I have mentioned today’s recipe before on The Kitchen Scout.
Here is an excerpt from my post named Thoughts from Quarantine dated April 2, 2020. If you have time, read the post and the two that followed in April of that momentous year. What a challenging year 2020 was and rereading those posts was a stark reminder of how quickly life can change, but also how resilient and resourceful we all became during that time. Here is the excerpt related to today’s recipe…
“True confessions – during quarantine I have been texting my husband some lunch ideas so that when he emerges from his office famished, he doesn’t have to….why don’t I let you figure out how I would end that sentence lol. Anyway, I usually remind him of the leftovers, ask if he wants in on what I am having or do his own thing. All kidding aside, he’s super flexible. Again, with the spirit of reverse cooking I have been looking through my recipes to see what fits with what I have and happened upon a recipe from Alison Roman’s latest cookbook, Nothing Fancy for Tomato-y Beans with Preserved Lemons and Breadcrumbs. These might have been the best thing we’ve had and no, I didn’t have preserved lemons because “quarantine” so I squeezed some lemon over the finished beans and added some flaked salt to try to mimick the flavor of preserved lemons. This was a saute of some garlic, onion and tomato paste in olive oil with a pinch of red pepper flakes, one can of cannelini beans and some water, allowed to cook down until saucy. Finished with the aforementioned squeeze of lemon and flaked salt. The kicker though is some crispy toasted breadcrumbs on the top to give the dish some texture. I added some leftover chicken to our bowls. Oh, the humble bean. It asks nothing from us and gives us so much in return…”
Here’s a photo of what that dish looked like during quarantine…
To be honest, while I’ve thought about that recipe from time to time, I never repeated it until recently when my cook group, that I’ve mentioned a bunch of times here on the blog, gathered for a plant based meal. We also sampled a few plant based meat alternatives for fun.
Originally, I missed the memo and suggested I would bring Alison Roman’s Creamy Cauliflower Galette to share, but decided there was so much dairy in the recipe that it really wasn’t representative of the best plant based/vegan leaning menu item. However, I recalled Alison’s recipe for these creamy beans and thought that would do just nicely. So, I brought another batch of them to the dinner where they were really well received. Tomato-y beans can serve as a main dish with a salad, or a nice side dish alongside some chicken or even fish.
Here’s what they looked like the second time around – a bit more robust as my 2020 batch was a smaller portion and it looks like I may have skimped on the breadcrumbs. This time I repeated the use of fresh lemon juice rather than the preserved lemon called for because the ones I purchased were awful. I will never buy preserved lemons again, but will make them from scratch which isn’t that hard to do. The hardest part is waiting for them to preserve, about four weeks…
Beans and toast are a thing so I added some grilled sourdough bread to go with the “magical fruit”. This is a pantry pull recipe that is easy to whip up and if you don’t have white beans, you could swap out almost any other bean I imagine.
Now, let me tell you about our plant based meat alternative taste tests. One was a “fake bacon” that we all agreed was terrible. We also tried Beyond brand’s Italian Style Meatballs that were pretty tasty, but honestly I would rather have these Eggplant Meatballs as a meat alternative, rather than something processed. And lastly, but perhaps the evening’s winner was the Boston Vegan Mushroom Burger that my friend, Missy prepared traditionally on buns with lettuce, tomato, pickle and a homemade burger sauce. These were delicious and the flavor mimicked a char broil that was very convincing. I am planning to buy some of these for us next time I see them in the store. Boston Vegan Foods is a local, mother-daughter run company which is also very cool.
I don’t know how I feel about all these meat alternatives to be honest as many of them have ingredients that I know my grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food and they say that’s a good measure right? But from time to time, I would definitely enjoy the Boston Vegan Burgers.
So what do you think? Do you have any favorite plant based alternatives that have clean ingredients that you enjoy? I’d be interested in hearing.
And please give Tomato-y beans with Lemon and Bread Crumbs a try!
Until next time…
Two Years Ago: Pistachio Salmon
Three Years Ago: Chili Lime Salmon with Avocado Ranch Dressing
Four Years Ago: Cashew Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Five Years Ago: Cherry Tomato and Eggplant (or Butternut Squash) Curry
Six Years Ago: Quinoa Risotto with Shrimp and Asparagus
Seven Years Ago: Slow Cooker Chicken Marbella
Eight Years Ago: Turkey Larb Lettuce Cups
Nine Years Ago: Blackened Fish Tacos
TEN Years Ago: Summer Vegetable Ceviche
Summer Vegetable “Ceviche”
This recipe is adjusted ever so slightly from Alison Roman's Nothing Fancy cookbook. I first tried this dish during early quarantine days and returned to it for a plant based cook group gathering. It's terrific as a main course or as a hearty side dish. If you enjoy beans, this may be a new favorite!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup olive oil, divided, plus more for drizzling
- 1 cup coarse fresh bread crumbs, or panko
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 small white onion, thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed or thinly sliced
- 3 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2, 15-ounce cans white beans, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 preserved lemon, thinly sliced or a large squeeze of fresh lemon juice (my preference)
- pinch of flaky salt to finish
Instructions
- Heat 1/4 cup of the olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pan (I like cast iron) over medium-high heat. Add the bread crumbs and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the bread crumbs have become toasted and golden brown, 4-6 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl.
- Wipe out the pan and heat the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic. Season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasinoally, until they are translucent and tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the tomato paste and red pepper flakes, and continue to cook until the tomato paste has turned a nice brick-reddish color, about 2 minutes.
- Add the beans and 2 cups of water, shaking the skillet to scrape up any bits that have caramelized on the bottom. Season with salt and pepper and cook until the beans have turned creamy and tender and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Add the preserved lemon or fresh lemon juice, then transfer to a serving bowl (or not) and top with the bread crumbs, letting them settle into the juicy bits of the beans. Garnish with a pinch of flaky salt.
- Note, you do not want all of the liquid to evaporate as you want them to be a bit saucy so keep an eye on them and add a splash more water as needed.
- Enjoy!
Tips from The Kitchen Scout
You can use 2 cups of fresh or dried shell beans, adding 6 cups of water and increasing their cooking time to 45-50 minutes. I have only made this dish with canned beans however!
