Cheddar Bacon Bean Salad

I save recipe clippings. Forever. Their pulp fiber mass takes up a rather burdensome part of my life. That’s why I’m so happy that I can now get my favorite food magazines as digital subscriptions on my e-reader/tablet. Now I can bookmark or “scrapbook” recipes like this Cheddar Bacon White Bean Salad for years without them taking up much of a footprint or gravity well in my life!

This salad was from Eating Well magazine and I saved it for over a year before getting around to trying it. I knew it was going to be good and part of me “just couldn’t wait” to get this combination of ingredients onto a fork. Clearly I could wait, but I shouldn’t have. This salad is fabulous.

Actually, much of its fabulousness has to do with is somewhat indulgent nature. Sure it’s loaded with healthy white beans, walnuts, and some vegetables. But its real darlings are the cheddar cheese cubes and bacon. They make it rich, hearty, salty, and smoky.

Those indulgent ingredients shouldn’t get all the credit for making this salad delicious, though. The dressing is loaded with roasted garlic, its mellow flavor permeating every tasty bite. Don’t be alarmed by the amount of garlic here. Once you roast it, which involves wrapping whole heads in foil and cooking them in the oven, its flavor is not the least bit harsh or overwhelming. The soft, melty roasted cloves also contribute significantly to the creamy nature of the dressing, which is enhanced by the flavors of cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, and fresh thyme.

I think this hearty bean salad would be at home on the table just about any time of year. You could swap vegetables or even make it vegetarian by leaving out the bacon. You could then use smoked cheddar to get back some of that unique flavor. Since the garlic roasting does take some time (although you could do that a few days ahead), I like to make this salad a main dish to keep my meals simple in the area of preparation. I also think it would be pretty good as part of a tailgating buffet spread. The batch is large, so I make up a big bowl and have it for a few meals, including brown-bag lunches. In that case it serves as a wonderful make-ahead meal all on its own.

Cheddar Bacon White Bean Salad

Adapted from Eating Well, May/June 2015

2 medium-size heads garlic

3 slices thick-cut bacon (4 or 5 if using thin-cut)

½ cup chopped walnuts

1/3 cup plus 1 teaspoon olive oil, divided

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon cider vinegar

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

¾ teaspoon coarse (kosher) salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

5 cups cooked white beans (about 3 15-ounce cans) rinsed and drained

1 bell pepper, finely chopped

½ cup chopped celery

½ cup chopped fresh parsley

½ cup sharp cheddar cheese, cut into small cubes

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Peel off the outer papery skin of the garlic clove, keeping the cloves intact. Cut a slim slice off the top of the garlic heads, exposing a small part of the tops of the cloves. Place the heads on a sheet of aluminum foil large enough to wrap them completely. Drizzle 1 teaspoon olive oil over the exposed cloves. Wrap the garlic heads tightly with the foil. Place in preheated oven and roast at 350 F for about 1 hour, or until very soft and just beginning to brown. Cool completely. (This can be done a few days ahead. Keep the roasted garlic in the refrigerator if storing for more than a few hours.)

2. Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat until brown and crisp. Drain, cool and chop. Set aside.

3. Heat the walnuts in a small skillet over medium-low heat until just beginning to brown. Stir frequently and watch carefully to prevent burning. Remove from the heat. Set aside to cool.

4. To make the dressing, squeeze the cooled roasted garlic out of the skins and place it in the bowl of a food processor. Add the cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, thyme, salt and pepper. Process until well-blended, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. With the machine running, slowly pour the 1/3 cup olive oil through the opening in the top of the lid. Process until very smooth, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.

5. In a large bowl, combine the white beans, bell pepper, and celery. Pour the dressing over and toss to coat. Stir in the bacon, walnuts, parsley and cheddar. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Makes 6-8 main dish servings.

Other recipes like this one: Farro and White Bean Salad with Fennel and Walnuts, White Bean Salad with Green Olives and Tarragon

Archive Recipe: White Beans with Sage and Garlic

I don’t gush much on these pages. I mean really gush with true excitement and glee. They’d probably be more popular if I did. After all, how are you supposed to know what’s worth trying to get excited about if I don’t even offer any suggestions? Well, here you are: white beans. Yup, start trying to get excited about white beans. With sage and garlic. Yum! I love, love, LOVE this recipe.

Okay, so when I make it I don’t rely so much on a recipe. I more or less gather up some cooked (or canned) white beans, fresh sage (that I grow in a pot on my patio), garlic, olive oil, and some flavorful cooking liquid, such as broth or white wine. I gently fry the garlic and sage in a good amount of that olive oil until the garlic is just a bit browned and the sage is crisp, then I remove them, leaving a nicely flavored oil behind. I then add the beans to that oil along with the broth or wine and cook them until the liquid is a thick and luscious emulsion. I add salt and pepper to taste, then sprinkle the fried sage and garlic on the beans to serve. Again, can I say it? YUM!

When I posted this recipe before, I was beginning a trip through my cookbooks, trying to test and report on at least one recipe from each book. Um, ahem. That project didn’t go so well. Somehow my enthusiasm and commitment to what sounded like such a delicious idea (not to mention a way to weed out cookbooks I would probably never actually use) fizzled.

But my enthusiasm and commitment to serving White Beans with Sage and Garlic has never failed. It hasn’t even waned. Not one little bit. I buy a sage plant at a garden center every spring, so I can make these beans. I cook up extra white beans whenever I need them for a recipe, so I’ll have enough to make this dish. I’ve been making this for years and I won’t stop eating it anytime soon.

I usually serve this as a main dish with some bread and often a salad or other vegetable. (I really like this bread with it.) It also makes a good side dish for something like chicken or pork chops. It’s simple but wonderfully delicious and satisfying. As of right now, I implore you to join me in getting really, really excited about White Beans with Sage and Garlic! Yum!

White Beans with Sage and Garlic

Adapted from A New Way to Cook  by Sally Schneider

5-6 medium to large garlic cloves

about 10 large sage leaves (or up to 20 very small ones)

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 cups cooked white beans (about 2 16-ounce cans) drained and rinsed

¼ cup dry white wine or chicken broth

coarse salt and black pepper to taste

1. Peel the garlic and thinly slice it.  Cut the sage leaves into ¼-inch slices.

2.  Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat.  Add the garlic slices and cook a few minutes, just until they begin to brown slightly.  Remove the lightly-browned garlic with a slotted spoon and set aside.

3.  Add the sage to the oil.  Cook for about 1 minute or until the leaves look darker and somewhat crisp.  Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside with the garlic.

4.  Add the beans and wine or broth to the oil along with some salt and pepper to taste.  Increase the heat to medium.  Cook, stirring gently, until only a little thickened liquid remains in the pan. Tasted and adjust seasonings if desired.  Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with the cooked garlic and sage.

Makes about 2-3 main dish or 4-6 side dish servings.

Other recipes like this one: White Bean Soup with Fresh Herbs, Pasta with White Beans and Pesto, White Beans with Sundried Tomatoes and Olives

White Beans with Tomatoes and Olives

As happens so many times on these pages, I wish I had a great story to go with this dish. Something about my plump Tuscan grandmother who taught me everything I know (she doesn’t exist), or how I dried my own tomatoes or cured my own olives or grew my own navy beans. Nope. Not gonna happen. To be painfully truthful, I can’t even remember how I got the idea to put these ingredients together in this fashion. This simple pan of white beans with sundried tomatoes and kalamata olives with plenty of garlic and olive oil will have to be its own story.

 

But doesn’t that tell you a lot? Creamy white beans enrobed in flavorful oil and enhanced with the tangy flavor of sundried tomatoes and the briny brightness of olives. I made it warm for the simple reason that it’s just too cold for salads. I made it with dried beans I cooked myself because I happened to have a lot of them waiting around for their chance to be useful (you could use canned beans). I made it with lots of parsley because that’s an easy herb to get nice and fresh in the dead of winter. I made it totally delicious quite by accident.

I highly recommend using very tender sundried tomatoes in this recipe. Those packed in oil and sold in jars will be quite soft, but I happened to find some that were delightfully pliable in a re-sealable package without any oil. I think either form will work. If your dry-packed tomatoes are too hard to chew easily, you may be able to soften them by soaking them in boiling water for 30 minutes or so.

 

 

As you can see, I really didn’t get any good photos of this dish. Unfortunately, if I’m going to share a recipe for something I made for supper, unless by some freak happenstance of time and energy I make something ahead of time, there’s just not going to be enough sunlight for a quality representative picture. This is pretty much true from November through February, so you might have to use your imagination on some of my dishes.

And using that good imagination of yours on this one could lead to any number of variations. When the days get warmer, I’d like to try this as a cold salad with the oil turned into a dressing by merging it with some vinegar. I’m also wondering if Roasted Cherry Tomatoes would be a good replacement for the sundried tomatoes. Perhaps the tale of these very simple beans can live on as a Choose Your Own Adventure story. Perhaps just being very simple and extremely delicious is enough.

 

White Beans with Sundried Tomatoes and Olives

I used unsalted beans in this recipe. If you are using canned beans you may want to use the lesser amount of salt. Taste after adding the olives to determine if more salt is needed.

 

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 cups white beans, drained (and rinsed if canned), about 2 16-ounce cans
¼- ½ teaspoon coarse salt, to taste
a few grinds of black pepper
¼ cup chopped soft sundried tomatoes
¼ cup chopped kalamata olives
½ cup finely chopped parsley

1. Pour the oil in a large skillet. Warm over low heat. Add the garlic and cook very gently, stirring frequently, until just beginning to brown.

2. Add the remaining ingredients and cook until the parsley is well wilted and the dish is warm throughout, about 5 minutes. Serve warm.

Makes about 4 main-dish servings.

Other recipes like this one: White Beans with Arugula and Sun-Dried Tomatoes (I had completely forgotten about this recipe, which is quite similar); White Beans with Sage and Garlic; White Bean Soup with Fresh Herbs

One year ago: Roasted Meyer Lemon Chutney

White Beans and Arugula

This recipe was a salad recipe. And it had roasted red bell peppers in it, but I thought sun-dried tomatoes would be nice. And it called for arugula, but I couldn’t get any arugula (and the arugula I planted hasn’t grown enough yet). And I got some spinach and chard to try instead. And I thought maybe it would be interesting as a warm dish with cooked greens. But then I thought it would be better as a salad after all. And then I found some beautiful baby arugula. And then it got cold and rainy and windy and nasty outside and I thought it would be best to make this a warmer, cozier dish.

That’s pretty typical of the way things go in my kitchen (and in my head), the way a recipe goes from an original source through the gauntlet of my mind and the markets I frequent and the weather. In the end, this was a really nice, rather simple vegetarian dish of beans with wilted arugula and thick strips of tangy-sweet sun-dried tomatoes. Sometimes dishes based on beans or grains or both can be a little bland, really more suited to accompany a savory, flavorful main dish, but I firmly believe that the little bit of vinaigrette that was meant to dress this as a salad made a big difference in boosting the flavor of this one. Of course the peppery, bitter arugula and the tomatoes, plus the onions and garlic were no slouches in the flavor department, either.

Of course, when it gets warm again, I’m convinced I will be enjoying this as a salad. I just won’t wilt the arugula, or whatever greens I can get a hold of. I could also try the roasted peppers of the original recipe, or use fresh tomatoes. Really, there’s a lot that could be added to this and a lot of ways to go with the flavors: artichokes, fresh herbs, feta or Parmesan cheese. Dishes like this represent a method that can be applied in whatever direction the cook desires. Hey, wait, this dish represents two methods, a warm bean dish with wilted greens and cold bean salad with fresh greens. And then…well, enough of my stream of consciousness. You’ve got things to do.

White Beans with Arugula and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Based on a recipe (for a salad) in Cooking Light magazine

¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided, plus more to taste
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
½ teaspoon coarse salt, divided
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ cup finely-chopped red onion
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
4 cups arugula, chopped if the leaves are large
1 ½ cups (about a 15-ounce can, drained and rinsed) cooked Navy beans (or other white beans)

1. Place the sun-dried tomatoes in a small, heatproof bowl. Pour at least ½ cup boiling water over them to completely cover. Let stand at least 15 minutes to soften the tomatoes. (If you use oil-packed tomatoes, you can skip this step, but you will need about ½ cup water later.) Remove the tomatoes and reserve the water. Chop the softened tomatoes into thin strips and set aside.

2. In a small bowl, combine 1 tablespoon olive oil, red wine vinegar, honey, ¼ teaspoon salt and pepper. Whisk to combine. Set aside.

3. Pour the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet. Heat over medium heat until the oil is shimmery and flows easily when the pan is tilted. Add the onion and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt. Saute 3-4 minutes, or until the onion is softened and begins to brown. Add the garlic and cook about 1 minute more.

4. Add the arugula and about ¼ cup of the tomato soaking water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the arugula is well wilted, about 2 minutes. Add the beans, sun-dried tomatoes, and about ¼ cup more of the tomato water. Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated.

5. Remove from the heat. Pour the oil and vinegar dressing mixture over the beans and stir to coat. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 2 main dish or 4 smaller side dish servings.

Other recipes like this one: Sloppy Beans and Tomatoes, Stewed Beans with Bacon and Caramelized Onions, White Beans with Sage and Garlic, White Bean Stew with Tomatoes and Rosemary

One year ago: Vanilla Ice Cream

Cookbooks and Tuscan Beans

I’ve decided I’ve been neglecting my cookbooks.  I love them dearly, so this hurts me much more than it hurts them.  It’s not that I abuse them or keep them in a dank, spider-infested cupboard or anything like that.  It’s just that with all the magazine clippings and internet bookmarks I’ve acquired, I really haven’t been cooking from them nearly enough.

And so I gave myself a bit of a Cookshelf Challenge.  I’m going to try to cook at least one new recipe from each of the cookbooks I own.  On the way, I will probably revisit a few old favorites (such as the recipe in this post) as a way to get a running start.  I hope to journal these messy adventures on these pages, sharing recipes when I’ve adapted or rewritten them and offering amateur commentary and page numbers when I haven’t, giving you the chance to look up the original recipe yourself if you’re interested.  There will be lists of the books I’ve cooked from and recipes I’ve tried here as well as links to relevant posts.

Last week, I kind of dug into two cookbooks to get things started: A New Way to Cook by Sally Schneider and Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce.  I have a sneaking suspicion that I’ll be cooking my way through most of Good to the Grain.  I love this book, love Boyce’s philosophy, and love baked goods, so I think it’s going to be a fun ride.  More on that book in another post.

While I’ve only owned Good to the Grain for a couple weeks, I’ve had A New Way to Cook since it came out in 2001.  It was probably the first cookbook that I ever just read though, taking in the introductions, descriptions and author enthusiasm for good, fresh home-cooked food.  The first sentence of the introduction is, “The purpose of this book is to introduce you to a way of cooking truly delicious food simply, easily, healthfully, and with pleasure, and to enhance the joy of sharing it.”  In that case, I’m in.

And I have been “in” to this book for years, even though I haven’t cooked from it nearly enough.  It’s not just a collection of traditional recipes re-thought and redesigned to be more healthful, but a guide to varying and improvising upon basic recipes and creating menus based on what’s in season.  Reading and trying a few recipes from this book really allowed me to change the way I approached my pantry, my kitchen and my meals and helped me develop my own “new way to cook.”

When I found lots of cooked white beans in the freezer and bought a new sage plant for the patio garden, I knew I would go straight to the Tuscan Beans with Sage and Garlic.  This is either the first or second recipe I tried in this book. (I can’t remember whether I tried the Cold Spicy Sesame Noodles first.) I’ve made it so often that I don’t tend to go back and look at the recipe before setting out to make it.  I’ve changed a few things, but mostly because I sort of inadvertently migrated from the exact ingredients and procedures.

The recipe is based on the classic Tuscan fagioli al fiasco, which is a wine bottle full of beans, lots of olive oil, fresh sage and garlic that is allowed to bubble away on the embers of the kitchen hearth.  The beans absorb the olive oil and the flavors of the sage and garlic.  Sounds luxurious and heart-warming and decadent beyond belief.  I, however, don’t have a kitchen hearth, so I’m glad that Ms. Schneider shared her technique for cooking the beans in sage- and garlic-infused olive oil in a pan on the stove.  It’s delicious.

First, garlic and sage are cooked over low heat in a small amount (compared to the traditional recipe) of olive oil, then removed from the oil leaving behind their flavorful essence.  The beans are cooked in the oil with a little liquid (I’ve been using white wine, but chicken broth is very good) and absorb the subtle but wonderful flavors the cook has created.  It’s so simple, takes very little time, assuming you have cooked or canned beans on hand, and tastes so good…well, it just tastes so good!

White Beans with Sage and Garlic

Adapted from A New Way to Cook by Sally Schneider

5-6 medium to large garlic cloves

about 10 large sage leaves (or up to 20 very small ones)

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 cups cooked white beans (about 2 16-ounce cans) drained and rinsed

¼ cup dry white wine or chicken broth

coarse salt and black pepper to taste

1. Peel the garlic and thinly slice it.  Cut the sage leaves into ¼-inch slices.

2.  Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat.  Add the garlic slices and cook a few minutes, just until they begin to brown slightly.  Remove the lightly-browned garlic with a slotted spoon and set aside.

3.  Add the sage to the oil.  Cook for about 1 minute or until the leaves look darker and somewhat crisp.  Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside with the garlic.

4.  Add the beans and wine or broth to the oil.  Increase the heat to medium.  Cook, stirring gently, until only a little thickened liquid remains in the pan.  Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with the cooked garlic and sage.

Makes about 2-3 main dish or 4-6 side dish servings.

Other recipes like this one: White Bean Soup with Fresh Herbs, Pasta with White Beans and Pesto

One year ago: White Bean Soup with Fresh Herbs 

Two years ago: Corn and Green Onion Tart with Bacon