November 2023
Inspiration: Ottolenghi Flavour.
-
Ingredients: (* from our garden)
500g Cannelloni/loubya beans, soaked overnight*
1tsp. Bicarbonate of soda.
2 Onions peeled and cut into wedges. *
10 garlic cloves, peeled. *
2 rosemary sprigs. *
3 thyme sprigs. *
2 green chillies. *
200 ml. Olive oil. *
1 tbs full grain mustard.
100 ml lemon juice (from about 4 lemons) *
10 gs dill. *
1 red chilli *
Salt and pepper to taste.
Overview.
I love garlic and I love beans, and I’m just discovering Mr Ottolenghi, so this was a bit of a treat which I made for the visit of Cousin Jaima from USA and sister Becky from UK. The great thing I found was that this is easy to make beforehand and is simple to serve as a comforting dip which holds a big punch. I’m an immediate fan of both this recipe and Mr Ottolenghi.
Process.
Soak the beans overnight and then place in a pan with the onions and cook for about an hour until the beans are soft. Drain and set aside.
Whilst the beans are cooking put the garlic, rosemary, thyme, green chilli, and olive oil in a small, lidded tajin.
Cook for approx. 25 minutes, when the garlic should be soft. Remove from the heat and set aside with the garlic still cooking. Earthen tajins are great for this, they hold the heat perfectly and somehow food generally tastes so much better from them. And they’re really cheap to buy. I very much recommend you buying a few whilst in Xaouen.
Strain the oil and set this garlic infusion aside then pick out the garlic, herbs and chillies and again set aside.
To make the aioli, which I now realise could be a small dish of itself it’s so delicious, put the cooked garlic, about a quarter of the cooked beans, the mustard, 2 tbs of lemon juice, half the garlic oil, a tbs of water, salt to taste and a decent grind of black pepper in to a food processor and give it a good wizz to make a mayonnaise like paste. Again, set aside.
For the dressed beans, add half of the remaining beans with half the remaining lemon juice, 3 tablespoons of garlic oil, the dill, a pinch of salt and another good grind of black pepper. Yup you’ve guessed it, set this aside.
Once cool, blitz the remaining beans, onion, lemon juice, 3 tbs of garlic oil, salt and black pepper to taste, into a smooth paste. Place in a small tajine ensuring a shallow space in the centre. Fill this with the aioli and top with the dressed beans. Dress with red chilli flakes and the reserved cooked herbs you’ve saved previously.
Add a final drizzle of the remaining garlic oil and enjoy the “umms” and” ahhs” of appreciating guests. This is real comfort food and wonderfully good for you too.
Additional Notes.
One of the other joys of this dish is that you can prepare it up to 3 days in advance …. If you can prevent yourself from nibbling it away to nothing in the meantime.