Just when you thought you knew it all, you trawl through a farmers market and discover something new. Today, it was cranberry beans. The delightfully hippie hue to these bad boys immediately caught my eye. Our local MA farmer said they go well in stews and soups.
We found that when opened, the beans themselves are white with pink swirls throughout. Sort of a lovechild conceived between a Tuscan white bean and a kidney bean. Scandalous. When cooked, the beans lose their pinky swirls and turn more of a cool tan color.
Recommended dish: We brought water, carrot, shallot, garlic, and herbs de provence to a simmer for 30 minutes with the cranberry beans. While that was happening, we sauteed cousa squash and Japanese eggplant in EVOO and shallot. We then removed the beans along with scraps of carrot, shallot and garlic and mixed that with our other veg along with some fresh heirloom tomatoes and parsley. Squeeze some lemon and crack a little pepper atop all that and you’ve got a dish made in heaven folks.
You thought this blog was just about eating other people’s food? Try again.
Please do! Thanks for checking out the site and feel free to stop back any time you’re looking for new eats or food inspiration…