On Legumes

Which is another way of saying, umm, on beans.

Welcome to the Friday Recipe post for paid subscribers, another bean recipe. Next Friday, another UnRecipe post featuring photos from Italy will be going out, so keep your eyes peeled for the next color story. As always, you can learn more about my work here. Thanks for being a subscriber to Page & Plate!

During the winter, there is nothing I love more than cooking a big pot of beans for hours, coaxing it gently to a simmer and then letting it steam up the windows with its beany goodness. I love beans year round, but with the heat we’ve been having, dry beans that need to cook for hours are NOT it.

Imagine my delight when I saw these beauties at the farmers’ market last week. Fresh cranberry beans are something I’ve never tried to cook before, but they’re getting added to the weekly rotation next summer for sure. They cooked up beautifully in just 30 minutes (!) and soaked up the flavor like they'd been braising for hours.

My only complaint is that they are not as cute when they’re cooked. Sadly, they look just like normal little white beans and nothing like their flashy pink selves. I stirred these into some tofu and ate it with rice and chili crisp. It was delightful.

Summery Simmered Cranberry Beans