3 hours ago
6
I’ve been decluttering lately: throwing away or organising old cards, letters and photos, placing them in zipped folders and zapping them with labels made on my beloved Dymo. It’s given me such a great sense of freedom and clarity that I was thinking: I should do the same for my recipes. This one, for example, I would file under “magic”, because it comes together (mostly) from the store-cupboard, both in that easy way in which you throw things into a pot until they alchemise, but also because tahini and beans, together with a lemon, can, magically, become the most soothing antidote to cold weather.
Tahini beans with basil and pine nuts
Prep 15 min
Cook 40 min
Serves 2-3
4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to finish
2 red onions, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp fine sea salt
2 lemons, zest of 1 peeled off in strips, then both juiced, to get 5 tbsp
4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
5 tbsp sun-dried tomato paste
2 tsp aleppo pepper
2 400g tins butter beans in water, not drained
1 vegetable stock cube
3 tbsp tahini
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper3 tbsp (30g) pine nuts
Flatbreads, to serve
15g fresh basil, leaves torn
Put the oil in a large saucepan on a medium to low heat and, when hot, add the onions, salt and the strips of lemon peel, and cook, stirring, for eight minutes, until very soft and translucent. Add the garlic and fry for a minute or so, just until the smell of raw garlic disappears.
Stir in the tomato paste and aleppo pepper, cook for four to five minutes, then tip the beans and their water into the pot. Cook for 10 minutes, then crumble in the stock cube and add the tahini, black pepper and 600ml boiling water. Mix well, turn down the heat to a simmer and leave to bubble away gently for 10 minutes. Add the lemon juice, cook for a further five minutes, then take off the heat.
Toast the pine nuts in a small, dry frying pan, stirring so they don’t burn, for four to five minutes, until they turn golden.
Heat the flatbreads, then distribute the beans between two or three shallow bowls. Scatter the toasted pine nuts and basil leaves on top, drizzle with plenty of extra-virgin olive oil and serve with the flatbreads alongside.
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