A pot full of beans

Michael Craig

Ingredients

1 can	Cannellini beans (Main)
1	Salt
1 to drizzle	Olive oil
1 to taste	Fresh herbs, what appeal to you
1	Onion
3	Sage leaves
1 to taste	Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 to drizzle	Lemon juice

Directions

1. Soak dried benas overnight, well covered with cold water.
2. Drain the soaking water and place beans in a large pot or casserole. Set the oven to medium.
3. Cover beans with cold water. Add a good slug of olive oil and a little salt.
4. Now add the flavourings that appeal to you - thyme sprigs, bay leaf, sage leaves, garlic, a whole onion, canned tomatoes, citrus zest, a fresh or dried chilli - all or some of these.
5. You could add a ham hock. I kept it simple and added just an onion and some sage leaves.
6. Put the lid on the pot and cook in the oven until tender, at least an hour.
7. To serve, drain the beans and dress with oil. Season with salt and pepper, fresh herbs or a squeeze of lemon juice.

Tip:

These beans can be served as a side dish, turned into a salad, or mixed with wilted greens (silverbeet cooked with a few chilli flakes would be good). I served them very "au natural" with some chilli oil and grilled sourdough bread. I pretended I was in Italy.