Beanpot

It's hard to strike the right balance between furnishing your kitchen with special equipment and avoiding clutter. It's been easy to resist a pannini grill, but I bought a cazuela from La Tienda and regret to say I've gotten little use out of it.

But a recent Epicurious recipe for Tuscan beans included a whole discussion about the merits of a terracotta beanpot. Though the beans tasted great cooked our Le Creuset dutch oven, I took the plunge and got a 5-quart Piral beanpot from La Cuisine in Alexandria. We've been getting these nice heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo and we really like bean dishes. Plus, the plain terracotta version I got is decorative enough to sit out of the way on the top shelf of the hutch.

Seasoning consisted of simply immersing it in water for three hours. So the maiden dish for the new beanpot was Red beans Basque style from Janet Mendel's My Kitchen in Spain. I used the Santa Maria Piquito beans from Rancho Gordon -- little pink beans that are supposed to hold their shape well.

RG's beans in general do not have to have an overnight soak. Putting them in to soak the same morning and leaving them for four or five hours will generally cut the cooking time to an hour or so. As with the Tuscan bean recipe, though, this one just suggested putting the beans on a slow simmer for two or three hours.

For this recipe, you put 1 lb or rinsed beans into the pot with 6 c. of water, add an optional ham bone (which I didn't have), 1 large carrot cut into chunks, 2 bay leaves, a small green pepper chopped, and a half onion chopped. You bring the water to a boil and add a Tbl of olive oil, reduce the heat to a simmer, cover the pot and cook for an hour.

You then add a cup of cold water to "shock" the beans and cook for another half an hour. Then add another cup of cold water and 1 leek white and tender parts chopped, 1 lb potatoes peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes, 1 Tbl salt and 4 oz of chorizo or any pork link sausage (I used hot Italian sausage from Broad Branch). You cook for another hour or so until the beans are tender. Three optional condiments to serve with it are cooked cabbage, sauteed red onion slices, or mild pickled green chiles (I opted for the red onion).

The stew was delicious. The spicy sausage added just the right amount of heat, but I would probably add a bit more sweet sausage, especially in the abscence of the ham bone. I'd love to try it another time with the ham bone, though, if anyone can tell me where to get one. I got several meals from it over the week and never tired of it. We sauteed more sausage one time and more red onion. Another time for lunch I just sprinkled cubes of feta cheese on top and that worked.

Did I have to have a beanpot to cook this recipe. Probably not, but it certainly came out nicely and was fun this way.