Tuscan-Style Baked White Beans

I wish I could start out my first real blog post with a bang, but I must say this dish was just eh. Last night I was looking through a cookbook that had been on the shelf too long, the Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook. Italian food is my sort of comfort food, the type of food I primarily lived off of before becoming vegetarian and exploring the food of other cultures out of necessity. (Don't we all wish we could live off bread and pasta? :) ) I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who eats a lot of eggs and cheese, but many recipes can be veganized as well or are already vegan.

Last night, as I glanced through for a lunch recipe for today, my heart became set on the Tuscan-Style Baked Cannelini Beans with Rosemary and Garlic. The instructions informed me that the dish would be done when a white sauce had formed around the beans, about one and a half hours. Mmmmm. Saucy beans.

Now, a white bean is a white bean, right? Wrong. Having no dried cannelini beans and no time to go shopping around for them (read: lazy), I set out some Great Northern Beans to soak overnight. I also substituted dried rosemary for the fresh rosemary called for in the recipe - why I thought I could get away with that when it's such a vital ingredient, I'm not sure. As I'm sure you can realize by now, the dish didn't turn out too great - the beans were dry and had an unpleasant texture, and little taste. Regardless, if you happen to have the book, I still think this would taste fantastic with the right ingredients - just learn from my mistake.



Baked Great Northern Beans

I paired the beans with some cooked-down spinach with added sea salt, freshly ground pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. Nothing too exciting, but pictures are fun, soo...



Spinach!

 I think I'll make a simple white sauce for the remaining beans to make them a bit tastier leftover.

While I can't post the recipe for this meal (you'll just have to buy the book :) ), I will be certain to prepare recipes from online sources I can direct you to in the future, so I won't cruelly taunt your tastebuds without a chance for you to make it yourself.

And just because, Jerome:




Because who wouldn't love a cat this cool?


~S