Pizza Beans
It took a week of high stress and anticipation to cause me to finally try this recipe for Pizza Beans from Deb Perlman of Smitten Kitchen. It had circled my orbit over the years, repeatedly landing in my in-box via various emails–from the original source and other cooks who had given the recipe their stamp of approval. It’s also included in Perlman’s cookbook, Smitten Kitchen Every Day, where the author describes her 6-month pregnant self cooking exactly what she craved when tasked with bringing a pot luck dish to a big time editor’s apartment. She called this dish “Tomato-Braised Gigante Bean Gratin” for the foodie crowd and “Pizza Beans” for her kindergarten son.
Well, let’s just say that a saucy, cheesy, comforting mess, spooned over crunchy garlic bread was exactly what I was craving on Election Night and it just so happened that another email touting Pizza Beans landed in my in-box. That was all I needed to embark on a mission to find Gigante beans, also called fagiole corona or gigante/gigandes at an Italian or Greek grocery. Perlman mentioned using Royal Corona Beans from Rancho Gordo (a fabulous online resource for beans) but without time to order by mail or search out a specialty food store, I headed to Wegman’s. I didn’t find exactly what I was looking for and didn’t want to settle for a regular sized white bean (which you can do, albeit with less dramatic texture), but I did find marinated Gigante beans at the antipasti counter. I decided to buy a pound of these and then drain and rinse them of their oily dressing when I got home. If I don’t get around to ordering Gigantes before craving these Pizza Beans again, I would again settle on this solution.
Why go to the effort to source a unique ingredient? Why persevere with a recipe when you can’t procure the star of the show? Well, I’ll tell you that this dish is worth it. As opposed to pizza, I’d describe it more like baked ziti without the pasta and true confession–I could eat baked ziti every night of the week. As a matter of fact, baked ziti from Nicola’s in Rehoboth Beach will be my death bed request but unfortunately, I can’t justify eating such a carb-laden meal as often as I’d like. Enter Pizza Beans. All the saucy, cheesy, bubbly goodness with some vegetables thrown in and none of the pasta. Of course, as I mentioned, I did enjoy these beans spooned over a big slice of garlic bread but hey, that’s not a requirement. As a matter of fact, the next day I heated up the leftovers in the microwave and ate them straight from the bowl…equally delicious without the bread.
I encourage you to plan ahead or improvise but either way, give these Pizza Beans a try. I certainly won’t be waiting four years to make them again. Enjoy!
Pizza Beans
Ingredients
- 2 Tbls olive oil
- 1 lg onion chopped
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 1 lg carrot diced
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper or red pepper flakes
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 c dry white or red wine optional
- 4 oz curly kale leaves chopped
- 2 1/4 c crushed tomatoes (28-ounce can minus 1 cup; reserve the rest for another use)
- 1 lb cooked firm-tender giant white beans
- 3/4 c vegetable broth
- 1/2 lb mozzarella coarsely grated
- 1/3 c grated Parmesan
- 2 Tbls roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley optinal garnish
- garlic bread for serving, optional
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 475F. In a 2 1/2-to-3-quart (ideally oven-safe) deep sauté pan, braiser, or shallow Dutch oven, heat the olive oil on medium-high. Add the onion, celery, and carrots.
- Season well with salt and black or red pepper. Cook, sautéing, until the vegetables soften and brown lightly, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook for 1 minute more. Add the wine, if using, to scrape up any stuck bits, then simmer until it disappears, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the kale, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until collapsed, then add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Add the beans, and, if the mixture looks too dry or thick (canned tomatoes range quite a bit in juiciness), add up to 3/4 cup broth, 1/4 cup at a time. Simmer the mixture together over medium for about 10 minutes, adjusting the seasonings as needed.
- If your pan isn’t ovenproof, transfer the mixture to a 3-quart baking dish. If it is, well, carry on.
- Sprinkle the beans first with the mozzarella, then the Parmesan, and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until browned on top. If you’re impatient and want a deeper color, you can run it under the broiler. Finish with parsley, if desired.
- Serve with toasted garlic bread, if desired (optional).