independent.ie– Beans, beans, they’re good for your heart, the more you eat, the more you wonder what goes on inside our pipes! Beans carry a nice little freight of oligosaccharides. These nifty carbs move through our small intestine totally intact, where most food is broken down. The oligosaccharides then make their way to our microflora in the large intestine, who snack on them and toot with happiness! I’m somewhat mutilating the scientific language here, but you get the picture.
Other foods that contain oligosaccharides include artichokes, onions, garlic, asparagus and leeks. So there’s no point in keeping beans out of your diet for fear of bottom burps. Chances are you’re already mainlining oligosaccharides into your diet anyway! Besides, it strikes me as a very good idea to keep our pipes on speaking terms with us. Let me help you do exactly that.
Try serving these harissa beans on toast with Parmesan, pecorino or a fried egg. Simple, easy, cheap and quick.
Harissa white beans
Serves 2-4
You will need:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large white onion, diced
1 fat clove garlic, sliced
1 x 400g tin white beans (eg butter beans)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2-4 tablespoons harissa paste (depending on heat)
Good squeeze of lemon; Parmesan or pecorino shavings, to serve
1 Gently warm some olive oil in a frying pan. Sauté the diced onion and the sliced garlic for 8-10 minutes or until they are soft and glassy.
2 Drain the tinned beans, reserving a little of the liquid from the tin, and add the beans to the pan, along with a little of the reserved liquid. Cook for 5 minutes, adding some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
3 Stir through the harissa paste, and cook for a further 5-10 minutes to override the tinned-bean taste. The amount of harissa paste you add will entirely depend on the brand you have — some are fragrant and mild, others bold and fiery. Feel free to adjust the amount as you go along.
4 Plate up as is, or maybe with a good squeeze of lemon and shavings of Parmesan or pecorino. If you’re feeling fancy, a dollop of plain yoghurt and lashings of parsley and lemon zest will take it up a stratosphere.
