This is a new recipe I thought up and cooked over the weekend because my son, Galen, can actually eat all the ingredients! At the moment, he is avoiding dairy, all the grains and more. So, I’ve had to get a little creative.
Thankfully, this turned out really well – and looks beautiful!
Pesto is so versatile. It makes a great pasta sauce, it also works well with steamed vegetables, potatoes, even in omelets! There are tons of uses and thus, lots of ways to sneak more bone-healthy greens into meals.
Cannellini Beans with Basil Pesto and Kalamata Olives
Ingredients
- 1 quart cannellini beans , organic (least $ in the bulk section of your grocery)
- 4 ounces basil , organic
- 1/4 cup olive oil , extra virgin and organic (avoid oils packaged in plastic, look for glass or metal containers)
- 3 ounces pine nuts (if you cannot find organic pine nuts, substitute organic walnuts or pecans)
- 1 red onion , large and organic
- 4 ounces kalamata olives , organic
- parsley a few sprigs for decoration
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
Instructions
- Rinse the cannellini beans in cool, running water.
- Place the beans in a large bowl that has enough room to add water to cover them fully plus a couple of inches to spare, so they can absorb water and still remain covered.
- Cover the bowl and soak the beans for 8 hours (overnight is easiest). Then drain and rinse the beans in cold water.
- Transfer your beans to a pressure cooker. Add water to cover plus several extra inches too, a heaping tablespoon of miso and a piece of kombu. Bring the pressure cooker to full pressure over high heat (the indicator button will pop up; typically, achieving full pressure takes about 20 minutes).
- When the indicator button on your pressure drops back down, open the lid, remove the kombu, drain the beans and place them in a large serving bowl. You can now toss them with the basil pesto or leave as is and store, covered in your refrigerator where they will keep for 5-7 days.
- Toss the cannellini beans with the basil pesto, kalamata olives and diced red onion. Decorate with parsley if desired. Serve immediately or store in your refrigerator for up to one week. This bean salad is good eaten cold, but the flavor of the basil is richer if it’s gently reheated.
Basil pesto
- While the beans are cooking, prepare the basil pesto. You'll need to rinse and chiffonade your basil.
- To chiffonade basil (or any other green leafy vegetable) place the rinsed leaves one on top of another until you have a stack of them. Then roll from the outside edge in as if you were rolling up tobacco leaves to make a cigar. Slice horizontally every 1/4″ or so. You’ll end up with narrow ribbons of greens. (Chiffonade works especially well for kale, too.)
- Combine basil, extra virgin olive oil, pine nuts, a 1/4 cup of the red onion (diced), salt and pepper in a food processor (or blender) and process until smooth.
Notes
*If you forget to soak the beans overnight, they can be "pre-pressure cooked," so you don't have to soak them for 8 hours. Basically, you just rinse the beans, put them in the pressure cooker, bring it to pressure, cook for just 2 minutes, then drain and rinse the beans, put them back in the pressure cooker, cover with water, add miso and kombu, bring back up to pressure, and pressure cook them again for the full 8 minutes. This comes in really handy if you decide you want to cook beans and hadn't thought about it the night before!
Nutrition
Serving: 200gCalories: 1799kcalCarbohydrates: 137gProtein: 57gFat: 130gSaturated Fat: 14gSodium: 3315mgPotassium: 1050mgFiber: 44gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 6425IUVitamin C: 28.5mgCalcium: 728mgIron: 24.9mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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Grace Presser
July 6, 2016 , 6:02 amWhat if you don’t have a pressure cooker?? M