Beans, Beans,.....
Emma Pinch
Posted Nov 19, 2009
BEANS have long suffered from an image problem. They're the cord
slacks and open-toed sandals of the vegetable world, and have
certain, let's just say anti-social connotations.
But beans are perfect for this time of year, and they can't be
bettered in a steaming soup or stew.
Nutrition-wise they're bang on the money.
Beans and pulses are cheap, low fat, protein rich, proved to
lower cholesterol and stabilise blood sugar and packed with B
vitamins.
And yes, there are ways and means of getting round the whiff
factor.
The beauty of beans, says owner/chef of vegetarian Green Fish
Cafe on Upper Newington, Liverpool, is that all major world cuisines
have a staple bean and carb dish.
Beans aren't boring. The native people of Peru were cultivating
beans 7,000 years ago and at the same time people in the Middle East
were tucking into chickpeas, lentils and butter beans.
"Combined with a grain, like bread, rice or barley, beans make a
complete protein," he says. "It goes right across the world.
Chickpea curry, rice and peas, burritos and beans, beancurd and rice
- and beans on toast."
Forget lentil or nut roasts and bland vegetarian meat substitute
dishes, says David. Take a leaf out of the everyday cookbooks of
French or Italian matriarchs.
"There are lots of exciting, flavoursome dishes using beans out
there whose taste and goodness has been proved through hundreds of
years of use " says David.
"When I grew up I remember eating lots of rather bland hotpots
with lentils, something I haven't tried for years. What we do here
is create traditional vegetarian dishes rather than invent new ones
or substitute meat with beans, which have been proved popular for
hundreds of years."
Every part of Europe has its traditional bean stew. There's the
French cassoulet, the Spanish cocido or the smoked bacon or pork and
the rich bean stews of Romania, Hungary and the Balkans. Here too we
use them to thicken wintry soups and stews, cooked whole and then
mashed or pured. They can also be mixed with pasta or rice in soup
to make a hearty, warming dish.
"The bean stew we make here is similar to the Italian Ribollita,
a hearty Tuscan soup which means re-boiled," says David, "which
would have been slow cooked on a wood-burning stove. It's thicker
than soup, more like a stew in consistency and delicious on a
miserable day."
Date: Nov 11, 2009
© 2009 Daily Post. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved
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