Cannellini beans
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There are three main types of haricot bean: firstly, the long, thin, shiny-ivory one that the Italians sometimes call cannellini. These are delicious in salads, stews, and Tuscan bean and pasta soup; they are also the kind used in France, cooked in the Breton way and served with mutton and lamb.
The second type of haricot is the small round one of tinned baked bean fame. I think they are inferior to, and lack the flavour of, their handsomer cousins.
A member of the same family, tiny green unripe flageolets have a wonderful flavour. Haricot beans are cheap, they help to bulk out meat and they are also very nutritious and filling. The other advantage is they are very good at absorbing the flavours of the dish. If you're serving these, there's no need to serve either rice or potatoes.
Serves 4Tuscan White Bean Soup with Frizzled Shallots and Pancetta
If you look down the list of ingredients here you might be forgiven for thinking this doesn't sound very exciting. Yet Italian cannellini beans transformed into a soup are just wonderful, both in texture and in flavour. The other essential ingredient
Serves 4-5Poor Man's Cassoulet
This is a modern version of an original recipe that appeared in my book Frugal Food and I suppose whilst it lacks sophisticated ingredients like preserved goose it's still very much on the theme of the original. I think at the moment my preferred sau
Serves 6Oxtail Braised in Guinness with Cannellini Beans
I am not surprised that oxtail has become rather fashionable in restaurants now because any meat that is cooked near the bone has a special sweetness and succulence. But it's still a very economical dish to prepare at home, and the addition of cannel
Serves 4 as a main course or 6 as a starterWhite Bean and Tuna Fish Salad with Lemon Pepper Dressing
As it uses mainly storecupboard ingredients this nutritious salad is a good recipe to have up your sleeve for busy days.
Serves 4, or 6 as a starterThai Bean Salad with Pink Grapefruit and Grapes
In Thailand, they use pomelo in salads, which is very similar to grapefruit. I have used pink grapefruit here, but when they're not available, you could ring the changes and use a thinly sliced, medium-sized mango.
