A Savory Side Dish of Beans.

Cook a pot of beans weekly! Let's start with this easy and delicious recipe for A Savory Side Dish of Beans!

"Cook a pot of beans weekly" is not only a good idea it is good practice!

With all the variety available when cooking beans they need never be boring or the same old thing. My husband prefers a sweet bean side dish, like brown sugar baked beans. But I am more of a savory flavor kind of bean eater and this easy recipe adapts to what you have on hand in the kitchen. For example if I have a ham bone or the bone from a pork roast, I will throw it in there. If I don't have a ham bone, the beans are still delicious.

Sometimes I will add additional vegetables to the bean pot.

Such as large pieces of diced potatoes or a diced Roma style tomato. Because as it turns out, more vegetables makes everything taste better! But for this basic recipe I always add the magic trio of flavor, onion, celery, and carrots. And some garlic, almost everything I cook has some garlic tossed in! While the type of beans may change, or additional vegetables can change or not be put in at all, and, there may or may not be a ham bone. But the onion, celery and carrot are a given for each pot of beans!

Navy beans are my go-to favorite for this dish.

We usually start out each year with a 20 pound bag of Navy Beans. Same for Pinto and Black Beans. Having those beans available in my pantry makes it easy to cook a pot of beans weekly. And often the beans for this recipe are Navy beans. But honestly I have made A Savory Side Dish of Beans with Great Northern, as well as Pinto beans. Other times I have used Black Eyed Peas as well as Cranberry beans. And honestly they all taste delicious in this easy, frugal recipe. Cooking the different types of beans is fun and there is a bonus, you just might find a new favorite bean...

Beans and a pressure cooker are made for each other!

While I do plan ahead and soak the beans that I cook, this is quick to put together and quick to cook in the pressure cooker. I have begun using my stovetop model more and more. Especially when I want to sauté vegetables as part of the prep work. For this recipe, drain the beans, chop some vegetables and then it all goes into the pressure cooker for 25 minutes or so, and you have delicious beans to enjoy! We enjoy these along a sandwich as well as a side dish for dinner.

Additional thoughts on this recipe:

Put beans to soak the night before you want to cook this dish, drain well before cooking.

If adding additional vegetables, save the last 5 minutes to cook the added vegetables. Let the pressure cooker sit NPR 10 minutes before opening, add the extra vegetables, then cook and cook for the final 5 minutes. Repeat the NPR before opening the pressure cooker again.

And to answer your question, yes bacon would be delicious in this recipe!

Ingredients needed for this recipe:

beans
onion
celery
carrot
bay leaves
garlic
salt
fresh ground pepper
chicken stock or broth

You will also need the following:

kitchen knife
vegetable peeler
cutting board
measuring spoons
measuring cup
pressure cooker, stovetop or electric

Now we are ready to begin!

A Savory Side Dish of Beans

by the seat of my pants

1 pound of beans soaked the day before and drained

oil, we use avocado

1 medium onion

1 or 2 carrots

1 or 2 stalks of celery including the top leaves

2-3 cloves garlic minced

2 bay leaves

salt

fresh ground pepper

4 c bone broth, chicken stock or bouillon such as better than bouillon

water as needed

Wash, dry and peel the carrots. Wash and dry the celery, peel the outside skin from the onion.

Mince the garlic and set aside. Cut 2 or 3 slices from the onion, mince the slices leaving the rest of the onion whole. Mince the celery and carrot.

Add about 1 tablespoon oil to the pressure cooker, over medium heat sauté the minced vegetables until translucent and the onion is beginning to turn golden in color.

Add the beans, bay leaves, chicken stock. Season with salt and pepper. Add water to bring the liquid up 1 inch over the beans.

Begin heating on high heat, attach the lid and let the pressure cooker come up to pressure. Let cook for 25 minutes or until done to your liking.

For the Instant Pot you may sauté in the pressure cooker, then proceed with the recipe.

Note if adding additional vegetables, stop cooking at 20 minutes, allow NPR for 10 minutes before opening the pressure cooker. Add the diced potato then replace the lid and continue cooking to finish.

When the cooking time is finished, allow to stand 10 minutes NPR then open to serve.

Storage suggestions for A Savory Side Dish of Beans. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to three days. You may freeze for long storage times, let thaw in the refrigerator.

UPDATE: For your convenience, a "copy and paste" version of A Savory Side Dish of Beans has been included below.

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