Beans and Summer Squash with Pesto

because you never made beans from scratch and all you can think about is beans and the time has come to fulfill your bean-destiny because beans are really great. beans.

Things you’ll need: water, dry beans, onion, garlic, bay leaf, summer squash, basil, olive oil, parmesan, salt/pepper.

Chapter 70

You can’t stop thinking about beans.

Maybe it was just the initial worry about stocking up our pantry foods, like beans and rice and pasta, and not going to the store in case the entire world collapsed. You purchased many cans of beans and ate them all. Maybe it really started when you made a white bean and kale soup with sausage and lemon and the beans were delicious. When you started really thinking about beans all of the time, you started looking for “fancy” dry beans and realized that everyone else has had this thought and so “fancy” dry beans are really hard to find now (because beans are great).

Like when the world ran out of hair dye, bread flour, and yeast. Something about this “now” means that we have to learn how to do things like we did “then”, at home and from scratch.

Sometimes, behind the fear and anxiety and grief and uncertainty, you think this has been a good change. You read a story about a chef who stopped thinking about how to make food pretty and just started cooking things that were nutritious. Like, appearances don’t matter as much as taking care of ourselves; or appearing well really isn’t the same as being well; or maybe none of us are ok right now so why does it matter if we look good? Everything became about persevering and staying well, the best that we can (when it’s not about racial equality, justice, and resisting tyranny while having a job and kids and everything else).

Beans are not only really good for you, but they are cheap too. Money is a problem, generally speaking as a whole concept. Making the most out of what you have is important. All you REALLY need for beans is water, heat, and salt. Isn’t that amazing?

If you are going to make them on the stove, you can soak them or not soak them. You can soak them (overnight or at least 4 hours) with salt or add salt later. From what you have read, people have many feelings about these things. Everything you’ve read says to add enough water cover the beans by 3 inches, or 2 inches if soaked, and then cook on low for however long it takes (half hour to two hours, as decided by the beans).

You got an Instapot for your birthday, because you could not stop thinking about beans and asked for one specifically so you could make beans without having to plan so far ahead. Having never done this before, you aren’t going to soak. Just add 2 cups of beans to 6 cups of water, half an onion, 2 bay leaves, and one clove (or four) of garlic that you crush using the heel of your hand. Add a tablespoon of salt because you always add salt to things. There is a bean/chili button, so you use that, and pick whatever medium-ish setting because you don’t know any better yet.

While that cooks, slice zucchini or pattypan or whatever you bought or grew or were given to you, into very thin long slices or whatever. If you have a grill, toss them in oil and grill them, on each side, just long enough for some nice grill marks. Otherwise, broil, sauté, whatever. Just cook em.

Get some basil from your garden or your friend’s garden or from the store. Because you are learning how to do things from scratch or by hand, tear up the leaves and put them in a mortar and pulverize until a little pasty, then add oil and parmesan and salt, a little at a time, until you like it. If you are more interested in using machines, just buzz it all a few times in a food processor. If beans from scratch while cooking zucchini is as much work as you have the fortitude to complete, then just use some jarred pesto from the store. Unless you are a super planner, in which case you may have made a bunch of pesto and froze it in ice trays for just such a time as this.

When the machine beeps at you, leave it alone for about 10 minutes as the machine “naturally” depressurizes.

Ok, so it’s your first time. When you open the pot and expect perfect beautiful beans, you may be a little disappointed. You used big butterbean/lima type beans and you don’t know how old they are or really what you are doing at all and you added salt and didn’t soak and who even knows. You are learning, but it’s fine.

Learning is good. The beans are still a bit hard and underdone. Transfer them to a pot on the stove, add a little more salt, and just simmer them, covered, until they are soft enough. It’ll take as long as it takes (that’s the thing about “from scratch”).

Once they are done, they are also DELICIOUS and you to try VERY HARD to not drink all the bean broth in one sitting and you are already coming up with so many ideas about how to use the broth and the rest of the beans and all the various many bean things you will make in the future BECAUSE BEANS ARE AMAAAAAAAZING!!

Using a slotted spoon, take some of your cooked beans and mix them with your cooked summer squash and plop in a little pesto. Toss and taste, add more pesto or salt as you please.

Enjoy this deliciously easy bowl of good for you stuff while reading more, of course, about beans. Not only are you taking care of yourself, but you are treating yourself too.

(Thanks goes to SmittenKitchen for the idea, to Rancho Gordo for the beans, and to my dad and Shana for the birthday Instapot)