The Coalition of the Swilling

One of our favorite side dishes. Starts with a 15-16 oz can each* of Great Northern and Navy Beans, rinsed and drained.

1/2 med. onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, diced
1/2 t chopped fresh rosemary
1 t dried thyme, divided
1 T fresh parsely, chopped
extra virgin olive oil

Onion, garlic, 1/2 the thyme, rosemary, 2 T olive oil in pan. Saute over med heat until translucent.


Next ingredients:


Pour 1/2 C vermouth over onion mix, heat until alcohol begins burning off. Add beans, parsley, remainder of thyme. Stir gently until mix returns to simmer.


Give it about 2 mins for those flavors to start working together, then add enough low-sodium chicken broth to just come even with level of beans.


Bring to a simmer and back heat off almost to low. Let them heat about 30 mins and stir gently occasionally to keep from sticking/burning. (If they bubble too hard, or are stirred too often, they'll break down into mush ~ yech.)


If you're ready to serve, drizzle with more olive oil, season with salt and pepper to taste and garnish w/ fresh chopped parsley if desired. (If they're too thin for you, mash a few beans against the side of the pan with a spoon and stir back in. They'll thicken the mix.)

Now, we're doing these with marinated, grilled sirloin chops but often use this as a side for leg of lamb, setting slices atop the beans. You can also raise the heat on them a bit and stir in cleaned, chopped spinach or Swiss Chard and/or poached/grilled chicken chunks and serve with a crusty bread. (Tastes like a million bucks the next day, too.)

Bracing stuff for a winter's day!

*We usually double or triple this recipe, but Ebola's on a road trip, so the food bill's getting a break. If you double it, only go a hair more on the vermouth, like 3/4 C ~ with 6 cans of beans a full C is fine.