Slow-cooked Leg of Pork with Beans

While this can be made with pretty much any bean, cannellini is the top contender. It is a bit sweet with the pork and the cannellini beans are wonderfully creamy, almost like a sauce. But the real trick for this is the bread and vinegar: the crunch of the buttered toast is a necessary companion, as is the strong, sharp taste of the vinegar. Be a little conservative when sprinkling the vinegar on top to assess how much you actually want. Note that the leftover beans make an excellent base for eggs and toast for lunch.

1lb 8 oz dried beans (cannellini, Red Mexican, pinto all worked)

5 cups chicken broth

2 bay leaves

2½ to 3 lbs. pork shoulder (Boston butt) roast or Leg roast

4 large leaves fresh sage, finely minced

1½ tsp salt

1 tsp whole fennel seeds, ground

1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, finely minced

5 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced or pressed

1 Tbsp olive oil

Black pepper

Fruit or white wine vinegar for serving

Crusty toasted and buttered bread for eating

1. Boil the beans for 10 minutes.
2. Place the beans, broth, and bay leaves in a large slow cooker (as the beans cook, they push the roast up and can lift the lid of a small slow cooker). Place the pork on top of the beans.
3. Mix together the prepared sage, rosemary, garlic, fennel, salt and olive oil to form a paste. Smear the paste all over the top of the pork.
4. Cover the slow cooker and cook on high for 6 to 8 hours, or until pork is tender and beans are cooked through. Gently shred the pork into chunks.
5. Serve topped with freshly cracked black pepper and butter-toasted crusty bread. Drizzle on a splash of white wine vinegar if desired. Or Optionally, BALSAMIC for a bigger taste.

Zuppa di salsiccia

This is such a lovely and simple soup. I have a note on this at the bottom, but it bears mentioning several times because it really makes a difference - save your Parmesan rinds and add to the soup while it simmers. It's delicious! I called this soup simply Italian Sausage, Chard and Cannellini Bean Soup, but Ben felt that it didn't have enough mystique. So I called it Zuppa di salsiccia, which Google Translate says means Sausage Soup.

1 or 2 Tbsps olive oil or bacon fat
1 lb spicy Italian sausage
1 onion (6oz/170gr) chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup white wine
6 to 8 cups chicken stock
OPTIONAL: Parmesan cheese rind
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp ground fennel
4 cans Cannellini beans, drained OR 16oz dry beans
Tender leafy greens such as Swiss chard or Turnip greens or young nettle tops, about 250g
Salt, to taste (if you follow the NOTE, consider adding less salt, since the Parmesan rind will add saltiness)
freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. If using dry beans, soak them the night before.
2. Drizzle the oil in a soup pot and squeeze the sausage out of their casings into it, then turn on the heat. When the sausage meat starts to sizzle, add the onions and mix to break up the sausage, then let cook until onions are soft and the sausage begins to brown. You will notice a stage when a lot of liquid is liberated from the sausage and the onion - the browning begins once this excess water is cooked off. (If you want to reduce the fat, you put the cooked sausage and onion mix in a colander and rinse with hot water).
3. Scrape the browned sausage bits off the bottom of the pan as the mixture cooks. Add the garlic and sauté 1 minute more. 
4. Deglaze the pan by adding the white wine and cook until almost all gone, then add the chicken stock, making sure to scrape off as much of the sausage that may still be sticking to the bottom of the pot. If using, add the cheese rind. Increase the temperature to bring to a boil.
5. Meanwhile, add the beans, the fennel seeds and the basil. If using dry beans, cook the soup for one hour or until the beans are tender.
6. Wash the chard, and cut out the stems. Slice the stems very fine, and add them to the soup. Once it starts to boil, reduce the temperature and let it simmer for about a half hour.
7. While the soup simmers, lay out the chard leaves on top of each other, fold lengthwise once or twice, and cut into thin ribbons, about ¼" wide.
8. When the soup has simmered at least 30 minutes, add the chard ribbons and simmer for another 10 minutes more, or until the chard is softened and the flavours have come out. Serve the soup hot, with freshly grated Parmesan cheese - the cheese adds to the flavour of the soup (see NOTE).

NOTE: If you happen to have a Parmesan rind in the fridge, add it to the soup when you first start simmering for added flavour.

Tuscan Bean Stew

It may be a little premature for me to post this recipe because I've only made it once. When I made it I didn't want to wait to soak the beans and cook them, so I used two cans of white kidney beans instead, and it was delicious. This means I don't know which version is better - with the dry beans or the canned beans or if they're both just as good as the other. Thanks Cook's Illustrated for the base recipe!

Part 1 - the beans

Salt

1 lb dried cannellini beans (about 2 cups), rinsed and picked over (OR two cans canned beans)

Part 2 - the mushrooms
1⁄2 oz dried porcini mushrooms
1⁄2 cup water (save to add to the soup)

Part 3 - stage 1 of the soup
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil plus extra for drizzling
1 large onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, cut into 1⁄2" pieces
2 carrots, in 1⁄2" pieces
8 garlic cloves, crushed
4 cups water
3 cups broth
2 bay leaves

Part 4 - stage 2 of the soup
14oz (398mL) can diced tomatoes
1 medium bunch kale or collard greens (about 1 pound), stems trimmed, leaves chopped into 1-inch pieces)
1 sprig fresh rosemary

Part 5 - serving
Ground black pepper
Grated Parmesan cheese

1. Dissolve 3 tablespoons salt in 4 quarts cold water in large bowl or container. Add beans and soak, at room temperature, for at least 8 and up to 24 hours. (Soaking the beans in salt water overnight helps them cook up creamy, with tender skins.) Drain and rinse well.
2. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 250°F. (Cooking the beans at a near-simmer in a 250°F oven leads to fewer exploded beans in the finished stew.)
3. Pour 1⁄2 cup boiling water in a small bowl and add dried mushrooms. Let stand until mushrooms soften, about 5 minutes. Lift mushrooms from liquid with fork and mince. Strain liquid through fine-mesh strainer lined with paper towels into medium bowl. Set mushrooms and liquid aside.
4. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion, celery, and carrots. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened and lightly browned, 10 to 16 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in remaining 4 cups water, broth, bay leaves, soaked beans, and reserved mushrooms and cooking liquid. Increase heat to high and bring stew to simmer. Cover pot, transfer to oven, and cook until beans are almost tender (very centre of beans will still be firm), 45 minutes to 1 hour.
5. Remove pot from oven and stir in tomatoes and greens (the acid in tomatoes can interfere with the beans’ tender texture. Add them toward the end of cooking, after the beans have already softened). Return pot to oven and continue to cook until beans and greens are fully tender, 30 to 40 minutes longer.
6. Remove pot from oven and submerge rosemary sprig in stew. Cover and let stand 15 minutes. Discard bay leaves and rosemary sprig; season stew with salt and pepper to taste. If desired, use back of spoon to press some beans against side of pot to thicken stew. Serve, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and lightly drizzled with olive oil.