This is a really lovely dish from Rachel Roddy writing in the Weekend Guardian recently - an Italian warm vegetable sort of salad/stew with soft flavours of braised runner beans, tomatoes, olive oil, salt - all warm and beautiful on a summer's day served with some good bread.
I couldn't resist trying it immediately (nope, patience has never been a strong point of mine!) so I ended up making it slightly differently with the ingredients I had.
I still loved it and I'll be making it again, both the way I made it, and going back to try the original.
It's pretty much perfect in its simplicity just as it is, although would make a great accompaniment to any grilled / barbecued meats of fish too.
You'll find the original recipe HERE.
And because my local shop didn't have any fresh basil the day that I made it, and because I had fine beans rather than runner beans, I made some tiny changes to the flavours - without the basil it would need something so I also used a few slices of chilli pepper and some ground cumin.
If you have fresh basil, then omit the chilli and the cumin.
Note that you leave the dish to sit for an hour or two after cooking to be served warm, so factor that into your timings!
Or just eat it hot of course.
Or make it the day before you want it and reheat very gently to serve - I imagine the flavours will only get better when left overnight.
Here's how I made a big pot, enough for two.
You'll need:
1 medium white onion, very finely sliced
salt
1/2-1 small red chilli, very finely diced
a couple of tablespoons olive oil (I used 20 sprays of my spray cooking oil and a splash of water when it needed it)
equal quantities of green beans or runner beans, and ripe tomatoes - I think I used 200-300g of each (and use the very best tomatoes you can get hold of - ones with lots of flavour)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
a good chunk of Feta cheese to serve
Get the ingredients together
Top and tail the beans and cut into small pieces
Remove tough cores from the tomatoes and dice
Put the oil in a pan and when warmed, add the finely sliced onion and a small pinch of salt, and the chilli (if using) and cook gently over a low-medium heat until the onion is soft - if you use a spray oil like me, you'll need to add a splash of water or two as it cooks to prevent the onion burning. Cooking onions until soft always takes longer than I think it will - probably around 10 minutes.
Add the beans to the pan, stir well to combine with the onion, then cook - still stirring - for a 3-4 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, another small pinch of salt and 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (if using) then cover the pan and leave for a couple of minutes. Uncover the pan and stir, then cover for another 4-5 minutes (have a look and stir if you like - and if you need a little splash of water add it - although the juice from the tomatoes should be coming out now as it has time to cook with the lid on).
Once the tomatoes are releasing their juice, uncover the pan and cook uncovered on a low heat, simmering gently, for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
The beans will be really tender and the sauce lovely and thick.
If you have fresh basil add a handful of torn basil leaves now for a couple of minutes.
Taste and see if it needs any seasoning, then remove from heat and allow to sit for an hour or two before serving warm with the piece of feta crumbled over and served with bread, if liked.
