Cannellini beans are a delight. They’re fluffy and nutty and whether cooked for a long time like they are in this recipe, or eaten straight from the tin in a salad, they really come into their own when they’re paired with simple flavours like garlic, chilli, olive oil and vinegar.

At around 50p a tin, plus the other inexpensive ingredients, this recipe comes in as a very reasonable way to get plant protein in your diet. Of course you can prepare your beans from dried, with the long soak and cook, but that takes a lot more time and organisation, plus the tinned* beans will always surrender very well to becoming creamy, a benefit to this recipe.

This dish can be a main or a side, it’s both summery and wintery at the same time and using tinned beans means it’s made with the minimal of effort, though to get the best results you need to cook the beans for around two hours so it helps to plan ahead.

Served alongside a Sunday nut roast, scooped up onto a piece of toasted sourdough bread or eaten straight from the bowl with a spoon, this dish is creamy without using cream, comforting and highly satisfying.

I think this recipe would be brilliant with other beans too. It would be good to try with borlotti or haricot for their different kinds of nutty flavour or even with black beans, to spoon into taco shells or over tortilla chips with guacamole. Let me know if you try a good variation!

*To readers in the USA, when I say tinned, it means canned! There is no actual tin involved nowadays!

INGREDIENTS (Serves 2-4)

1 400g tin of cannellini beans (don’t drain them!)

3 tbsp olive oil

3 cloves garlic

1 small onion

1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes or 1/2 fresh mild chilli

1 stick celery

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 bay leaves

METHOD

Finely chop the onion, garlic, chilli and celery. You want the pieces to be so small that they almost melt together during the cooking process. Add the olive oil to a large saucepan, heat on a medium to low heat, add the onion, garlic, chilli, celery and bay leaves. The celery, garlic and onion needs to become soft and translucent. You want to avoid any browning, so keep the heat low and stir as required to stop it catching. It can take five to ten minutes. Garlic is very vulnerable to browning and burning as it has a much lower water content than the onion and celery so keep a close eye. This is not a time to get distracted! Which makes it a mindful process. Therein lies another benefit to this dish. Put some music on, or enjoy the silence.

Add the beans with their aquafaba water from the tin. The aquafaba acts as a thickener to make the sauce silky and lush, so please don’t drain your beans. Stir and cook for five minutes until everything is well combined. Using the tin as a measure, fill with water and add to the pan, repeat so that you’ve added one and a half tin’s of water. Turn the heat up to medium until it bubbles, simmer for five minutes and then turn the heat to the lowest you have, and leave the beans to cook. There might be the odd geyser-bubble so it pays to use a deep saucepan. They will look lost in the water at first, then over the next two hours they will reduce down and some of the beans will split then dissolve to create the creamy texture. Stir the beans every now and then to make sure they are reducing evenly and not catching at the bottom of the pan. When the beans are a thick, potage consistency, add the salt, stir well and taste, add a little more salt if desired. Reduce further over a medium heat if you think they’re not quite thick enough.

Serve them in a bowl just as they come or preferably with a further drizzle of olive oil on top and some fresh soft herbs.