These beans were excellent, an example of minimalist perfection.
I had a hard time coming up with a title for the post: this dish is not really a salad, nor a soup, nor a stew. However, in the end, names are not as important as flavor, which in this case is very interesting.
We start with the beans. I have made this recipe with two kinds of beans from my pantry:
- speckled bayo (photo top and above, recently featured in this soup)
- Paul's mix (photo below and bottom, and also in this photo post)
Both come from Warren Creek Farms, producer of outstanding organic beans.
Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for fagioli alla salvia col miglio
How to cook dry beans
The way I cook beans for further use comes from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison (Beans with Aromatics). After soaking half a cup of dry beans for several hours or overnight in enough water to cover them by about an inch (I use two cups), empty the whole bowl into a saucepan and add
- Half of a small onion (or a quarter of a medium one), halved
- A bay leaf
- A small clove of garlic, sliced
- A couple of sprigs of fresh parsley
Bring the water to a lively boil quickly, and keep it there for five minutes, then turn down the heat and let the beans simmer, covered, until they are ready. How long this takes depends on the type of beans and their freshness. Let them cool in their broth, then remove the aromatics and discard them. Let the beans rest in their cooking broth until ready to use.
Then we have millet, an ancient grain, which is gluten free. On the right, you see hulled millet in its natural state. On the left, you see the same millet after being toasted. The toasting step takes only a few minutes and it is worth the small effort: toasting gives millet a deeper, earthier flavor.
How to cook millet
For this dish, I used 1/4 cup uncooked millet. Of course, you can cook more and take what you need, saving the rest for another dish. Warm up a skillet on medium heat, then add the millet and toast for a few minutes, stirring constantly to prevent burning. You will hear the millet pop (this is half the fun of toasting grains).
Take millet off the heat and pour into a pan with 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil and cook, covered, for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat but keep the lid on for another 5 minutes. Add a pinch of sea salt and fluff with a fork.
Putting it all together
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup beans of choice (for ex., cannellini, canario, speckled bayo), prepared as explained above, plus their cooking liquid
- 1/4 cup hulled millet, prepared as explained above
- 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
- A small onion or a shallot, finely chopped
- A large clove of garlic, thinly sliced (2 if small)
- 3-4 leaves of fresh sage, thinly sliced
- A handful of kale blossoms, optional (but recommended, both as a color and as a texture accent)
- Sea salt and freshly milled black pepper, to taste
You can prepare beans and millet ahead. The final assembly takes a short time, which makes this dish ideal for a quick lunch or dinner (pranzo o cena).
Warm up the olive oil in a saucepan, then add the onion and stir well. After a couple of minutes, add the garlic and sage and stir. After a couple more minutes, add the kale blossoms, if using. Let cook over gentle heat until the onion is translucent. Add the cooked beans with their cooking liquid and bring to a boil. Simmer for a couple of minutes to blend the flavors. Add the cooked millet and stir well. Make sure everything is nice and hot, then adjust salt and pepper, give a good final stir, take the pan off the heat and serve immediately.
This simple dish packs a lot of flavor.
This is my first contribution to Cooking With Seeds: Rye or Millet, an event created by Priya of Priya's Versatile Recipes and hosted this month by Simona of briciole (that is, me).
This post contains the roundup of the event.
This recipes goes also to Jagruti's event Know Your Flours Series: Millet Flour hosted at Torviewtoronto.
This post contains the roundup of the event.
Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:
fagioli alla salvia col miglio
or launch the fagioli alla salvia col miglio audio file [mp3].
[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]
