Monitoring Desk
A fry-up of sorts, beans and basil-scented tomatoes, with a soft and milky burrata to act as an impromptu dressing.
Flatten 3 cloves of garlic with a heavy knife, then peel away the skins. Warm 4 tbsp of olive oil in a wide, shallow-sided pan and add the garlic, letting it cook very briefly, just until it is fragrant. Drain a 400g can of cannellini beans, but don’t be tempted to rinse them.
Cut 350g of small tomatoes into quarters – cherry or small ridged varieties – pour a little more oil into the pan, then add the tomatoes and the drained cannellini. Fry for 5 or 6 minutes, without moving the beans, until the beans are starting to crisp a little and the tomatoes are softening and their juices are starting to run. Chop a small handful of parsley leaves.
Tear a handful of basil leaves to shreds and add to the tomatoes together with the parsley and a seasoning of salt and black pepper. Remove the tomatoes and let the beans continue cooking for a few minutes until lightly crisp and golden.
Place a burrata in the middle of each of 2 shallow dishes. Add the tomatoes and the beans, trickle over a little olive oil and serve. Enough for 2
The beans should be lightly crisp outside and soft within. Once they have been drained of their cooking liquor, drop them into the hot olive oil in the frying pan and leave them for several minutes to becomes crisp underneath, then turn them over with a spoon or spatula, taking care not to crush the beans.
The beans and tomatoes make a very good accompaniment to a fried breakfast, to grilled steak or to a fried or poached egg. I recently served this – minus the burrata – alongside grilled sardines and it was just perfect.
Courtesy: theguardian
