Cookies Preferences
This is a dish I originally created for SuperVega just back before COVID hit. I remember my last night in the restaurant before I was supposed to travel to Aqaba, Jordan for some consulting work, yelling at the Chef in charge of the kitchen to do this my way or get out. He stuck around, but only for the couple of weeks before the ramifications of COVID were realized and everything shut down for a while. He found this dish too fiddly and I'll acknowledge it has several steps, but again they are made up of things that aren't difficult to make and work in several other things. I make a big batch of this pesto and have it in my fridge or freezer for as long as I can. The tomato vinaigrette is another winner to have around as a topping for your basic weeknight chicken or fish. Also, use this same bean cooking technique for other bean dishes - a pot of which is always a welcome addition to my fridge.
For the White Beans:
1 pound dry white beans, soaked overnight in plenty of cold water
1 red onion, cut into 6 pieces
1 head of garlic, cut in half horizontally
2 stems of rosemary
2 tablespoons olive oil
For the Garlic Scape Pesto:
(makes more than you'll need for the beans but you can freeze this or use it in a million different ways)
1/2 cup garlic scapes, cut into pieces
8 cups of rocket
zest and juice of one lemon
1 clove garlic
1/3 cup grated pecorino cheese
3 tablespoons roasted, salted almonds
pinch of red chilli flakes
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup olive oil
For the Cherry Tomato Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup olive oil, divided
1 small red onion, finely diced
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
For the Crispy Oyster Mushrooms:
1/2 pound or 250g oyster mushrooms
olive oil, to coat
salt and pepper
Start with the beans by adding the soaked (drained) beans and all of the aromatics for them to a large pot, covering with just enough water and cooking for 60-90 minutes, until soft. Just a note here about cooking times: the beans I had most recently took closer to 3 hours to get soft so give yourself extra time just to make sure they're lovely and soft before serving them. Store beans in the cooking liquid until you're ready to dish up.
To make the pesto simply place everything except the olive oil in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process until you have a rough paste and then add the olive oil through the feeding tube up top until you have a pesto-like consistency.
To make the cherry tomato vinaigrette heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a saucepan and add the diced red onion. Cook for 4-5 minutes until softening before adding the halved cherry tomatoes. Cook this for 10-15 minutes until the tomatoes start to break down and bit and soften. Remove from the heat and add the remaining ingredients and set to one side.
For the oyster mushrooms, preheat your oven to 200C/400F degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the oyster mushrooms, in whole pieces, on the prepared sheet and drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Cook in the preheated oven for 20 minutes until brown and crispy.
To plate up, place a couple of large spoonfuls of the beans in the bottom of each dish, top with some pesto, a hefty amount of vinaigrette and finally some crispy oyster mushrooms. My black olive crumb (or any crispy breadcrumb) would be a wonderful addition sprinkled on top!
