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1
Put the beans, onion halves, celery, carrot, garlic, bay leaves, and thyme in a large pot and cover with waterit should come at least 2 inches above the level of the beans.
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2
Bring to a boil (BTB) and reduce to a simmer (RTS); cook until the beans are tender when you taste them, an hour or more.
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3
To be sure theyre done, do the 5-Bean Test (below).
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4
When the beans are cooked through, turn off the heat, season the water generously with salt, and let sit for 20 minutes.
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5
Remove the onion halves, celery, carrot, garlic, bay leaves, and thyme and strain the beans, reserving about a cup of liquid to loosen the puree later if needed.
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6
Coat a large saute pan generously with olive oil, add the diced onion and red pepper, and bring to medium heat; season with salt and cook until the onions are soft and aromatic, 8 to 10 minutes.
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7
Add the prosciutto and rosemary and saute for 3 to 4 more minutes, or until the meat just begins to color.
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8
Add the beans and some of the reserved bean cooking liquid if the mixture seems dry.
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9
Saute for 2 or 3 minutes or until the beans are just warm.
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10
Transfer everything to a food processor and puree until smooth, adding a bit of olive oil or reserved cooking liquid to loosen the puree if necessary.
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11
Taste, adding more salt if needed.
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12
Serve on bread or wherever bean dip is needed.
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13
Bean cooking SHOULD go like this: Toss the beans in a bowl of water and let them sit overnight.
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14
The next morning, put the beans in a pot with an onion cut in half, a whole rib of celery, a whole carrot, a couple of garlic cloves, some bay leaves, and a thyme bundle (and yes, you do want to leave all these veggies wholeit makes them much easier to remove later on).
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15
Cover everything with about 2 inches of water and BTB, RTSbring to a boil, reduce to a simmer.
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Now, if you didnt remember to soak your beans yesterday, you can do the quick-cook method (which really isnt that quick).
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Toss the beans and all the veggies together in a pot, bring to a boil (BTB), turn off the heat, and let it cool back down.
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18
This does the same thing as soaking your beans overnight.
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19
By the way, this works for all beans except for chickpeasI dont know why, theyre stubborn.
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20
The only way to know for sure if your beans are done is to taste them, because different beans take different amounts of time to cook.
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21
To tell if beans are done, perform the 5-Bean Test: Taste at least five beansif any of them are hard, then theyre not all done!
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22
When the beans are tender, turn off the heat, season generously with salt, remove the veg, and strain the beans from the bean cooking liquid.
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23
Voila!
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24
Perfectly cooked and perfectly seasoned beans .
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25
.
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26
.
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27
every time.
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28
This recipe is best when you cook your own beans, so plan ahead.
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29
Dont use your big-money prosciutto here.
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30
Ask your butcher to sell you the ends, which are usually the leftover bits they cant sell.
