BROTHY PINTO BEANS WITH FRESH LIME AND CREMA
Happy New Year! I’m starting 2024’s recipes off with a nourishing brothy bowl of beans, with plenty of lime to give a burst of freshness. Just what’s needed right about now.
Beans are often overlooked but they're an amazing food to incorporate more of in your diet. They’re highly sustainable source of protein, they’re also high in fiber, a complex carb, so slow releasing energy, filling and are so versatile and delicious! They can go center stage or be used as part of another dish. If you’re taking part in Veganuary this year or looking to incorporate more plant-based foods into your diet, beans are a perfect way to do that.
You can easily jazz up legumes with plenty of good quality fats and seasoning, I love to add citrus too. If you’re in a rush pre-cooked beans and pulses are a useful pantry staple to have to hand. I usually cook more than I need and freeze them, rather than buying tinned or pre-cooked. It’s cheaper, has less packaging, and is usually tastier.
For this dish, there are a few components, but it’s fairly straightforward and adaptable. The crema works really well, but you can switch it out for another creamy element you may already have in your fridge. If you don’t feel like making the pangrattato, toasted seeds or nuts would still be very nice, and using a different fresh herb would work well. I had some roast squash leftover that I added into this and it made a really quick meal, so if you do have some left then feel free to use that up here. You can also just add the squash straight into the broth, rather than roasting, but roasting adds that extra flavour.
Brothy Pinto Beans
Serves 4
450g cooked pinto beans/ 220g dried pinto, soaked overnight
2 whole guajillo
2 whole cloves garlic
Small bunch of bay leaves
550-600g vegetable stock or water
450g squash, 2 cm diced - I used red kuri and kept the skin on. *
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
Juice of 3 limes - about 90g
80g olive oil
25g chopped chives, I like them quite chunky but slice them finely if you prefer
Chipotle cashew crema
100g cashews, soaked for 4 hours, or quick soaked for 30 minutes in hot water
100g water
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp capers
1 clove garlic
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tsp ground chipotle
1 Guajillo saved from the soup
juice 1 lime
Pepita Pangrattato
50g pumpkin seed
150g bread
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 clove garlic grated
zest of one lemon
1⁄2 tsp sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 200c.
Place the pinto beans, guajillo, garlic, bay leaves, stock, or water into a medium-large pan. Place on medium heat to bring it up to a simmer and turn down.
Cook for 30 minutes while you prepare the rest of your ingredients. Make the pangrattato and weigh your ingredients for the crema, you’ll add the guajillo from the soup to this, so blend once the soup is ready.
To roast the squash, cut it in half, then quarters, then eighths. Scoop out the seeds, reserving if you like to use them for another dish. Arrange the squash on a baking tray lined with parchment, drizzle rapeseed oil, and a sprinkle of salt. Bake for 20 minutes, until tender.
For the pangrattato, toast your pumpkin seeds on low heat, in a large pan until they start to pop. Remove from the pan and let them cool. Keeping the pan for the breadcrumbs.
Blitz your bread in a food processor until you have a rough crumb. Heat the fry pan, add oil, then the breadcrumbs and toast on medium low heat for about 15 minutes until crispy then grate in the garlic, give it a good mix and cook for another couple of minutes, add the lemon zest. While the bread is toasting, blitz your pumpkin seeds in the food processor until you have a rough crumb. When the breadcrumbs are ready, in a medium bowl, mix through with the pumpkin seeds, salt and pepper. Ready to serve straight away or store in a jar or airtight container for up to a week.
For the crema, drain the cashews and rinse, add everything to a blender along with one of the guajillo chile from the soup.
When the broth is ready, either smoosh the garlic into the broth or remove it. Remove the guajillo and bay leaves, discard the bay leaves but save the guajillo, desseed, use one for your crema slice the other, and add it back in, if you like that extra chile bite throughout or discard. Add the squash, and stir in the nutritional yeast, lime juice, olive oil, and chives into the soup.
To serve, divide between serving dishes, finish with a dollop of the crema, and the panagratto to sprinkle on top.
Notes :
If you’re using beans from dried, drain and rinse, and cook with plenty of water and a good pinch of salt, until tender, about 40 minutes. You can use this water as part of the water needed for the brothy beans. Drain the beans, reserving the liquid, and measure how much you have. If you’re cooking the beans from dried you can also roast your squash during this cooking time, if not cook the squash while your soup is simmering.
Make extra pangrattato, it’s great to have to hand to finish off salads, soups, and stews.
If you decide not to roast the squash, add it straight into the broth at the beginning, adding an extra 50g/ml of water, and more if the broth is too thick.
