Fr. Z’s Kitchen: Beans in a bottle, and Beans in a bubble.

Carracci, The Beaneater – Il Mangiafagioli, Rome

The other day I posted an image of Carracci’s painting of the “Mangiafagioli … The Bean Eater” and in another post I clarified a term used in a don Camillo story, “mangiapreti… priest eater” (a really anti-clerical person).

I determined that I would be a priest bean eater, and make some Tuscan-style beans: fagioli al fiasco.  Tuscany is famous for their wonderful wines, big steaks and great beans.

I consulted a few recipes and it all was pretty straight forward.  In general, you put your beans, water and some garlic, salt, pepper, sage and maybe other herbs with olive oil into a fiasco, which is a bulb-shaped wine bottle (when you see straw around Chianti bottles, that’s because they were blown into a bulb shape and can’t stand up), and then stick it down into the ashes of the waning fire in your hearth.  It needs to have a small hole through the cork to let steam out.  Cotton balls work.  By morning your beans are ready.

I don’t have a hearth.   An alternative, would have been to seal them up – nearly – in, say, a jar placed in hot water.  Too much trouble.  Maybe next time.  So, I used my crock pot.

First, soak cannellini beans over night.

The next day…

Salt, pepper, including whole corns, sage, rosemary, water and a little chicken stock, olive oil.

I used my Clement XVI mug for perfect pouring style.

After a few hours of torment from the wonderful profumo.

About an hour before they were done, I threw in a handful of cherry tomatoes.

Over these beans, I put some first pressing, olio nuovo, from a really good press on the Left Coast.  Good olive oil is like liquid sunshine.

Yum.

Speaking of Italian Beans…, this writer is sealed up in a fantasy bubble.

Sigh.  Anyway… rather than talk about the Big Beans here, stick to the Tuscan beans and the more pleasant topic of the kitchen.   If you want to comment on Beans and the Poster, please go HERE.  Again… no creepy poster here.  RESIST the temptation.

Hereunder, stick to the better beans.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in Fr. Z's Kitchen, Liberals, You must be joking! and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.

5 Comments

  1. Adaquano says:

    He’s become more and more unhinged the last month, but his tweets the last 48 hours have been particularly uncharitable and quite frankly very childish. As I told some on twitter far better to block him and then offer a chaplet of the five wounds for him.

  2. teomatteo says:

    So are kids invited to their conference? Why the child’s hand?

  3. Gregg the Obscure says:

    would you be so kind as to share the proportion of beans to water that you used in preparing this repast?

  4. DeGaulle says:

    Complete hyperbole. This issue isn’t about heresy, it’s about grooming little boys for abuse. [Someone decided not to respect my request.]

  5. Nicholas says:

    DeGaulle, the only issue I see discussed in this post is delicious, delicious food.

Comments are closed.