olive hill bean stew

An absolute favourite on our weekly "aperi-tasting" grove tours

If you’ve eaten here at one of our olive oil experiences, chances are that you have sampled these beans in one form or another.

For me, this simple recipe is slow food done well. Easy peasy, but it does take a little bit of time. If you are a “graduate” of one of out olive oil tasting experiences, you will be able to adapt this recipe according to the olive oil that you have available to you: cannellini beans pair well with pungent, medium to intense olive oils (and oh my, they are AMAZING with fresh, green, herby olio nuovo), whereas borlotti beans suit a milder flavoured, light to medium olive oil.

The recipe is essentially a three phase recipe: I soak the beans overnight before cooking the beans in stock, then finally making the yummy stew with lashings of olive oil.

Try the recipe for yourself, and let us know what combination of beans and evoo you use!

recipe (serves six)

First, soak your beans overnight, before cooking them in vegetable stock:

  • 300g dried beans (I use borlotti, cannellini, or a combination of the two), soaked overnight in cold water.

  • one small onion, diced

  • two stalks of celery, diced

  • two small carrots, diced

  • two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

  1. Place the EVOO in a saucepan, heat, and sautee the diced vegetables for around 6 to 7 minutes, until they are soft.

  2. Drain the beans in a colander, then add them to the pan and stir

  3. Cover with cold water, bring to the boil, stirring occasionally

  4. Skim off the scum that appears on the top, then turn down, cover, and simmer for around 45 minutes

  5. Add half a teaspoon of cooking salt, simmer for a further 10 minutes

  6. Remove from the heat, and either continue with the second step immediately, or cool and refrigerate until needed.

To finish the dish, immediately before eating:

  • three garlic cloves, peeled but still whole (if using olio nuovo, you may choose to omit the garlic)

  • 5 sage leaves, washed

  • lots (around 100ml) of EVOO

  • the bean mix from above

  1. In a skillet of wok, heat around 5 tablespoons of EVOO gently

  2. Add the garlic, sautee for around 3 minutes

  3. Add the sage leaves, which will wilt, and give off a beautiful aroma

  4. Once you smell the sage, add the bean mixture and bring to the boil.

  5. Turn down heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

  6. Add EVOO to taste, stirring hard to emulsify the stock / EVOO mixtures, until it resembles a thin mayonnaise or runny gravy mixture.

  7. Remove the garlic and sage, and serve immediately, with even more EVOO!