French Boiled White Beans Recipes

PROVENCAL FRENCH BEANS

Steps:

• Place the beans in a bowl and cover with water. Soak in the refrigerator overnight.
• Drain the beans, place in a large saucepan with the chicken stock, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, until tender but not mushy. Add 1 tablespoon of salt for the last 10 minutes of cooking. Drain, reserving the stock.
• In a large saute pan, heat the olive oil, then add the onions, diced carrots, and celery, and cook over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until tender. Add the parsley, garlic, rosemary, and thyme and cook for 1 more minute. Add the beans and 2 cups of the cooking stock. (If you dont have enough liquid, add additional stock or water to make 2 cups.) Cook for 15 minutes until the stock makes a little sauce, adding more stock if necessary. Finish with the Parmesan cheese. Serve with a garnish of chopped parsley.

OLD FASHIONED FRENCH CANADIAN BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Cover beans with water and soak overnight.
• Rinse beans then bring to a boil in approximately 1 quart of water, bay leaf and garlic - simmer for 30 minutes.
• Turn off heat and let beans stand for approximately 1 1/2 hours until soft. Drain and reserve the bean liquid. Discard bay leaf and garlic.
• Mix together remaining ingredients (excluding beans and bacon).
• Add beans to bean pot (or any covered dish).
• Stir in molasses mixture to beans. Top off with some of the reserved bean liquid.
• Arrange bacon on top.
• Cover and bake at 300 degrees for 7 hours. For the final hour of cooking, remove cover to let bean brown up nicely.
• Note: check occasionally and keep beans covered with reserved bean liquid during cooking.

FRENCH CANADIAN (NOT BOSTON) BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Pour the beans onto a plate, and pick-over looking for bad beans, or stones. Place beans in bowl, cover with water by at least 2 inches, and soak overnight.
• Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
• Drain beans and place in 4-quart bean pot. Add onion, dry mustard, pepper, salt, and maple syrup. Add water to cover. Cut salt pork into 1-inch pieces and place on top of beans. Bake covered, approximately 8 hours. Check each hour to see if water needs to be added. You can add more maple syrup in place of water for flavor, if desired.
• Serve the beans with brown bread, franks, or ham. For breakfast, serve with eggs, bacon, and home-fries.

FRENCH WHITE BEAN AND CABBAGE SOUP

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
• Add in the onion, carrot, and garlic; cover and cook 5 minutes or until softened.
• Transfer the cooked vegetables into a 6-quart slow cooker.
• Add in the cabbage, potato, beans, stock, and thyme; season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours.
• Just before serving, stir in the liquid smoke (if using), and parsley; taste to adjust seasonings.

CREAMY WHITE BEANS WITH HERB OIL

Steps:

• Make the oil: In a food processor, combine chives, cilantro and basil, and pulse until finely chopped. Add olive oil, and pulse again until mixture is silky and emulsified. Transfer to a small bowl, stir in lemon juice and salt to taste. Set aside.
• Prepare the beans: In a 10-inch skillet, heat olive oil over medium-low heat. Add garlic and cook until translucent, about 1 minute. Add beans to the skillet and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the flavors have melded, about 2 to 3 minutes. With the back of a spoon or spatula, smash about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the beans and stir until they are incorporated into the rest of the bean mixture. A good portion of the remaining beans should maintain their structure.
• Add stock or water and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook until sauce becomes creamy and is reduced by about about half, about 1 to 2 minutes more. Smash additional beans and add a few more tablespoons of water, if needed, to reach desired consistency and stir again to combined.
• Transfer beans to a bowl and swirl with herb oil on top. Season with flaky salt, if desired.

COUNTRY FRENCH WHITE BEANS

Steps:

• Place beans in a large bowl and cover with water by about 2 inches. Soak overnight. Drain.
• Mix beans with remaining ingredients, except red bell pepper ,in a crockpot.
• Cover and cook on high 3 1/2 - 5 hours or until tender. Stir red bell pepper into beans.
• I always start checking these after 3 1/2 hours.

COUNTRY FRENCH WHITE BEANS

Steps:

• Place beans in large bowl. Add enough water to cover by 2 inches. Let soak overnight, at least 10 hours.
• Drain beans. Mix beans and remaining ingredients except bell peppers in 3 1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker.
• Cover and cook on high heat setting 3 hours 30 minutes to 5 hours or until beans are tender.
• Stir bell peppers into beans in cooker.

FRENCH BOILED WHITE BEANS

Steps:

• Sort through beans, picking out any extraneous materials. Cover beans with hot water and soak overnight. Rinse and drain beans and place in a 4-quart pot.
• Add chicken broth, shallots, bay leaf, thyme, parsley and carrots.
• Cover and bring to a boil; then reduce heat and simmer for 2 1/2 hours or until beans have a creamy texture when bitten; stir occasionally.
• Discard parsley and salt to taste.
• Prep time does not include over night soak.

MARINATED WHITE BEANS

Steps:

• Combine the garlic and olive oil in a small skillet and set over low heat. Cook until the garlic begins to slowly sizzle, stirring frequently, about 2 minutes (don't let the garlic brown as it will become bitter). Increase the heat to medium and add the capers, lemon zest, rosemary, red pepper flakes and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir to combine and return to a sizzle. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice.
• Combine the beans, tomato and parsley in a medium serving bowl. Drizzle the warm garlic oil over and toss well. Season with salt as desired.

BRAISED WHITE BEANS

Steps:

• Rinse the beans and put in a large pan with 1 onion, 1 carrot and 1 celery stick, all halved, 1 unpeeled garlic clove and the bouquet garni. Cover with water, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 30-45 mins, until the beans are almost tender but holding their shape.
• Meanwhile, chop the remaining onion, carrots and celery stick. Peel and finely chop the remaining garlic. Heat the butter and oil in a large pan, add the vegetables and gently fry for 10 mins until lightly coloured.
• Drain the beans, reserving the cooking liquid. Fish out and discard the whole vegetables and bouquet garni. Add the beans to the pan of vegetables with the tomatoes and sufficient reserved cooking liquid to just cover them. Top up with boiling water if necessary. Add plenty of salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for about 30 mins until the beans and vegetables are tender, then scatter with parsley, to serve.

FRENCH WHITE BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, heat the oil over moderate heat.
• Add the onion, fennel, carrots, salt and pepper. Saute for 5 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes, stock, basil, and fennel seeds and bring to a boil. Cover, lower the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Add the cannellini and simmer 3 minutes longer until heated through.
• Meanwhile, if using the pesto, combine the garlic, basil, parsley, cheese, and oil in a small bowl and with the back of a spoon, mash the mixture into a paste.
• Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish each one with a dollop of the pesto.

WHITE BEANS WITH ROSEMARY AND GARLIC

Steps:

• Soak overnight in 4 cups water: 1 cup dried white beans (cannellini, white runner, Great Northern, navy, and so on).
• Drain and transfer to a heavy pot. Add water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and skim off any foam. Simmer gently for 2 hours or so, until the beans are tender. Add more water if necessary during the cooking. Season to taste with: Salt.
• In a heavy-bottomed saucepan or skillet, warm over low heat: 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil.
• Add: 4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped, 1 teaspoon coarsely chopped rosemary leaves.
• Cook just until the garlic is soft, about 2 minutes. Stir into the beans, taste for salt, and adjust as needed. Let the dish sit for a few minutes before serving to allow the flavors to marry.
• Variation
• Leaves of either sage or winter or summer savory are delicious substitutes for rosemary.