Aglio e Olio Cannellini Recipe, by Georgina Hayden
by Georgina Hayden
An Italian-inspired way to cook beans, this is super-simple and creamy, but with lots of flavour. It’s also great if you have any tomato avoiders (such as my youngest child).
Recipe extracted from Medesque, by Georgina Hayden. Published by Bloomsbury.
Ingredients for Aglio e Olio Cannellini
- 6 garlic cloves
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for the toast
- ½ bunch of flat leaf parsley
- ½ teaspoon chilli flakes
- 1 large (570g) jar, or 2 × 400g cans, of cannellini beans
- 40g Parmesan (or vegetarian alternative, if needed)
- 4 slices of ciabatta, or any gluten-free bread, to serve
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
How to make Aglio e Olio Cannellini
- Peel and finely slice the garlic cloves, then place them in a large frying pan or saucepan with the olive oil. Pop over a low heat and leave the garlic to slowly turn golden. If your hob is on very low, this should take around 5 minutes. While it is gently frying, finely chop the parsley stalks and leaves, keeping them separate.
- When the garlic is almost ready, add the chopped parsley stalks to the pan with the chilli flakes. Stir for a further minute, then add the beans plus the liquid from the jar or cans. Season, adding a generous amount of black pepper especially, increase the heat a little and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 5 minutes: you don’t want to cook away all the liquid, the beans should remain a little creamy (if there isn’t enough liquid, you may need to add a splash of water). Jarred beans tend to be creamier, so if using canned beans you might want to crush a few of them with a potato masher at this stage.
- Finish by finely grating in most of the Parmesan and stirring it through with the parsley leaves, while you toast the ciabatta. Drizzle the ciabatta toast with extra virgin olive oil, then spoon over the beans and finish with the last bit of grated Parmesan.
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