[food] Beans bourdeto, sort of

[kaberett]

I went to Corfu! I was introduced to Corfiot bean stew! I was a fan. I am also struggling to track down a recipe that will let me recreate the But That's Amazing Though that I experienced there, because it's generally made with fish and there are relatively few recipes online, which means my ability to take the average of multiple recipes is limited. Nonetheless!

Ingredients
... beans
onion
garlic
not in any of the recipes, but present in the ones I was served: something like celery or fennel
optional pepper
tin of tomatoes
spices! bay leaf, star anise, allspice berries, sweet paprika

Method
Chop up the onion and celery/fennel/whatever, and sautee until softened and, optionally, starting to get some colour. Dump in the chopped garlic. After a minute or so, additionally dump in the tinned tomato and spices. Simmer for ~15 minutes, add beans, cook for as long as the beans require (if they are tinned you really just need to warm them through and give them a bit of a chance to make friends with a flavour). Tada.

... which I served up with The Rice Of My People, which I'd apparently somehow not made for A before; he is a Fan. It turns out. Slice ~half an onion (for two people) very finely. Sautee over high heat in oil + butter (butter for flavour, oil so the butter doesn't burn) until they've softened, then turn the heat down and cook them slowly for as long as you can be bothered with. Add cloves (~2 for ~3 portions of rice, depending on how much you like cloves) and rice, stir to coat in oil/mix up with onions, let the rice juuuust start going translucent, then add boiling water (aren't kettles great) and cook as usual.

Comments

[redbird]

The rice of your people sounds somewhat like the rice pilaf I've been making in various forms since I got a recipe from a friend of my parents' when I was eleven or twelve. I don't cook the onions as long, and I cook some thin egg noodles in the butter or margarine before adding the rice. I use broth instead of water, and the seasoning is different, but the onion/saute/clove thing means they are clearly kin.

The Rice of Your People sounds like it would be a good side dish; my pilaf is a main dish, with leftover cooked chicken (or duck or lamb if I have those). I think I know what I'm making for dinner tomorrow; thanks.

[vass]

That sounds really good.

[zasu]

God, I miss rice, and especially flavored rice.

When you say celery or fennel, do you mean stalks or roots?

[kaberett]

Stalks! I tend to refer to celery root as celeriac. Fennel bulbs are expanded leaf stems not roots, by my understanding!