Canned Or Dried Beans?

- Canned Or Dried Beans? 5 Ideas When Buying Beans - DrWeil.com
"The most nutritious varieties of beans are black, red, kidney and pinto beans.
Black beans have the most antioxidant activity of any of these bean choices.
To get the most soluble fiber from your beans, choose navy beans: one cup of cooked navy beans provides 19 grams of fiber!
When using dried beans, don’t discard the water used to simmer them – up to 70 percent of the antioxidants that beans provide end up in the simmering liquid.
Instead, simmer the beans until they are done and then give them a chance to soak these key nutrients back in by leaving them in the liquid for at least an hour.
Consider pressure cooking – a growing trend in preparing healthy, whole-food meals is pressure cooking.
Dried beans that were soaked and then cooked in a pressure cooker were shown to retain the most antioxidant value.
The easiest (and possibly healthiest) route?
Buy canned beans.
Canned kidney and pinto beans are two of the most antioxidant-rich foods you can eat, as the heat of the canning process enhances the availability of nutrients in the beans.
Choose low- or no-sodium versions of canned beans without added sugars when possible.
I recommend one to two servings of beans and legumes per day – easy to do if you swap out meat for beans in salads and sandwiches and make hummus or bean dip with cut fresh vegetables part of an afternoon snack."

Farro Bean Soup from Mimi Thorisson.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients
2 ounces finely sliced Prosciutto
1 onion finely diced
1 celery stalk, finely diced
2 small carrots, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 (14 Ounce) can chopped tomatoes
1 zucchini, diced
100 g/ 3/4 cup green lentils
150 g/ 1 cup farro

A good handful of freshly chopped fresh Basil
Red hot pepper flakes (optional)
Salt & Pepper
To Serve:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil or
Grated Parmesan, to garnish

Heat the olive oil in a large pot and cook the prosciutto for a few minutes.
Add the carrot, celery and onion and continue to cook for 5 minutes.
Add the garlic and zucchini, continue to cook for 2 minutes.
Add the can of diced tomatoes.
Season with salt & pepper, and half a teaspoon of chilli flakes (optional).
Add the equivalent of 3 to 4 cans of water.
Bring to a simmer.
Add the farro and green lentils.
Reduce the heat to low, cover and continue to cook for about 20 minutes, or until the vegetables, farro and lentils are tender.
If the soup is too thick, add more water and season accordingly.
Serve with leaves of basil, grated parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil.

Spicy Mexican Rice and Beans.

- Spicy Mexican Rice and Beans Recipe | Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary:

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Bean and Beet Soup with Farro.

Farro e fagioli (with beets).

Makes 2 to 3 servings
1 cup dried white beans (such as Cannellini)
1 cup dried chickpeas
2 T olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1/4 to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 leek, diced
1 beet, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
4 cups vegetable stock, warmed
2 sprigs rosemary
1 sprig thyme
1 stem Italian parsley
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
5 or 6 kale leaves, stems removed and coarsely chopped

1/2 cup dried farro
1 sprig sage
1 T olive oil
3 canned plum tomatoes, chopped
1 cup vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste
Creme fraiche to garnish

Place the dried beans in a bowl and cover with water.
Cover and let soak 1 to 2 days, and then drain.

On the day you are making the soup, place the farro in a bowl and cover with boiling water.
Let sit until needed, at least 3 hours, and then drain just before using.

Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat, and add the onion and celery and cook for about 2 minutes until soft.
Add the garlic, leek, beet, carrot and garlic.
Cook for 2 minutes.
Add the red pepper flakes and beans, then pour in the stock.
Add the herbs (tie them with butcher twine to make them easier to remove later).
Bring to a simmer, and cook until the beans are very soft, between 1 and 2 hours.

When the beans just start to soften, place the farro, sage, olive oil and tomatoes in another pot over medium heat, and cover with the vegetable stock.
Bring to a low boil, and then simmer for about 20 minutes until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the farro is soft.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Once the beans are very tender, season to taste.
If you want a bit of a thicker broth, spoon out about 3/4 cup of the vegetables with some broth, puree it, and then add it back to the soup pot.
Add the kale and cook for just a minute or two until it brightens.

To serve, ladle the soup into each bowl, add a heaping spoon of farro, and add a dollop of creme fraiche.

Homemade minestrone.

Tested and proved! Verdict: delicious!
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, peeled, sliced
150g streaky bacon, diced
4 celery stalks, chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped.
2 carrots, peeled, diced
2 potatoes, peeled, diced
1 litre beef stock
30g tomato purée
400g canned haricot beans, drained
1 bay leaf
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
handful chopped fresh parsley
400g tomatoes, chopped
100g spaghetti, broken into 2cm/1in pieces
salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the croûtons
1 crusty white bread loaf, cut into thick slices
1 tbsp olive oil
200g mozzarella, torn

Method
Haricot beans.
You need to start this recipe by soaking the beans.
You can do this by covering the beans with twice their volume of cold water, then soaking them overnight.
Alternatively, on the same day, boil them for 10 minutes then leave them to soak for a minimum of 2 hours.
Or you can buy canned haricot beans.
Canned beans just need to be drained and rinsed - then they're ready to use.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion, bacon, celery, garlic and carrots for 2-3 minutes, or until softened.
Stir in the potatoes and fry for a further 2-3 minutes.
Pour in the stock and bring the mixture to the boil.
Stir in the tomato purée and simmer for 45 minutes.
Add the haricot beans, herbs, chopped tomatoes and spaghetti and continue to cook until the pasta is tender.
Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

For the croûtons, drizzle the bread with the olive oil.
Heat a griddle pan until hot and fry the bread on one side for 2-3 minutes, or until golden-brown.
Meanwhile, preheat the grill to high.
Remove the bread from the pan and top the uncooked side with the mozzarella.
Place under the grill for 2-3 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling and golden-brown.
To serve, ladle the soup into 4 soup bowls and top with a croûton.

Recipe from "Something for the Weekend recipes" by BBC food.

Cassoulet.

Cassoulet: a rich stew originating in southwest France containing beans and various meats (such as sausages, pork and preserved duck or goose).
Cassoulet Recipe - LifeStyle FOOD: Recipe by Rick Stein.
ingredients
500g home-salted belly pork
65g duck or goose fat
1 head garlic, broken into cloves, peeled and sliced
1 large onion, chopped
1kg dried haricots, blancs beans, soaked overnight
large bouquet garni made from leek, celery, thyme sprigs, bay leaves and arsley stalks
6 good quality Toulouse sausages
4 legs duck confit, cut into two at the joint

1. Cut the piece of belly pork lengthways into three thick slices, then cut each piece across into two.
2.Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
3.Heat 50g of the duck fat in a six-litre flameproof casserole dish.
4.Add the garlic and onion and fry gently until soft but not browned.
5.Add the beans and the pieces of salted belly pork, cover with 1¾ litres/3 pints water and push in the bouquet garni.
6.Bring to the boil, skimming off any scum as it rises to the surface, then cover, transfer to the oven and bake for one hour or until the beans are just tender (this will depend on the age of your beans).
7.Heat the remaining duck fat in a frying pan and brown the sausages all over.
8.Lift them onto a board and slice each one sharply on the diagonal into three pieces.
9.Remove the cassoulet from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
10.Add the sausages and the pieces of duck confit to the casserole and push them down well into the beans.
11.Return the casserole to the oven and bake uncovered for a further 45 minutes or until the liquid has reduced and the cassoulet is covered in a dark golden crust.
12.Serve straight from the pot at the table.

White Bean Cabbage Potato Soup.

White Bean Cabbage Potato Soup - Vanilla And Bean:

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