I love beans. A lot. I grew up on dried beans & pulses, I’m in the Rancho Gordo Bean Club where I get quarterly shipments of heirloom dried beans, I cook a pot of beans most Sundays, and I frequently bring cooked (and uncooked) beans to share with my family and colleagues. When I was enjoying a meal at Her Place Supper Club earlier this month, Chef Amanda Shulman presented one of the courses and waxed poetic about the love, care, and challenge of cooking a perfect pot of beans. It hit me in my soul, and I thought… “Is she my bean buddy?!”
So, I’m so excited to chat with Amanda about one of my favorite topics. To start: Amanda, why do you love beans?
AS: Beans are an all the time thing so they’re amazing to have on hand. Swirled in a pan with some of their cooking juice and topped with a fried egg on toast and there’s breakfast. Mixed with roasted tomatoes and a bit of chicken stock and blended into a soup and there’s lunch. Under a roast chicken and mixed with the juices from the roasting tray and there’s dinner! There is something so beautiful about their versatility but also knowing that good olive oil, beans, and salt makes for a perfect meal.
MB: Now I’m hungry!
My dad’s family hails from New England, and New England baked beans with salt pork and molasses and made in my great grandmother’s bean pot were a staple in our home for as far back as I can remember. I actually just made some yellow eye beans so that I can turn them into a pseudo-baked bean dish for my family.
We hear from some participants who say that beans are “not their cup of tea?” Have you always liked beans? What’s your earliest memory of eating and enjoying beans?
AS: I don’t think I gave much thought to beans in their own right until I was an adult living on my own. In my early line cook days, time was scarce and I was on a tight budget. I would make a pot of beans on Sunday nights and eat them throughout the week, challenging myself to come up with creative ways to feed myself that were quick and healthy.
MB: Sundays are bean days!
The first bean that I became fixated on that weren’t widely available canned in the grocery story were gigante beans. I became obsessed with huge, marinated white beans like Royal Corona beans and large white lima beans, which are the Internet-famous butter bean. They have stayed in my top tier of bean. Do you have a favorite bean?
AS: I also LOVE butter beans–they are so creamy and feel very meaty and virtuous. I’m also here to tout the wonders of the bean liquid! Put some love in your cooking liquid and you will be rewarded. I’m talking herbs, garlic, and parmigiano rinds–it can really transform water into something fantastic and flavorful.
MB: In my home kitchen, clearly, and at Vetri Community Partnership, we often use beans in our recipes. We use canned beans because they’re inexpensive, shelf-stable, and the time that it takes to cook a bag of beans typically doesn’t fit into a 90-minute or 2-hour workshop. One of my favorites is a lemony vinaigrette that we thicken with a scoop of white beans to give it a little creaminess. The rest of the can of beans goes into the salad and it’s a delicious and nutritious dish. In the summer months, the Booth family is known to have a bean salad ready to eat in the fridge and present for most dinners.
What are some of your favorite bean recipes?
AS: I love combining beans and pastas. At the restaurant we’ve been serving a white bean stuffed farfalle and glazing it in chicken broth, wilted escarole and more whole beans. It’s a little take on a white bean and escarole soup. At home, it’s all about beans in a pan sauce! Cooking a roast chicken in a cast iron, removing it and throwing in a big scoop of beans and their cooking liquid and a squeeze of lemon makes for the perfect side dish/sauce.
MB: That sounds so satisfying and nourishing! Beans really are so versatile. Thank you so much for being on Team Bean! The Bean Queen!
Thank you to Chef Amanda Shulman for sharing some of her time this month to talk all things bean! If you’d like to hop on the bean train, come aboard. Check out our website for delicious bean recipes!
