This is another one of those recipes where I feel slightly ridiculous writing it down as a recipe. It’s the kind of thing I’d throw together almost reflexively when the mood hits. But as this is at least in part a digital notebook, it seemed worth writing down.

Doing beans this way really highlights great product. I like to do this with heirloom beans from producers like Rancho Gordo. While you could make this with a can or jar of beans, I don’t think it has the same impact. This is really a way to highlight good inputs more than anything.

Really any herbs will do here. This is great with leftover parsley, or works equally well with something like a mix of tarragon and chervil.

Ingredients

• 250 g dried white beans
• Salt
• 30 g lemon juice (about the juice of one lemon)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 30 g olive oil
• Handful herbs, roughly chopped

Method

Soak the beans overnight in a bowl of water.

Then, strain the beans and add them to a pot of lightly salted water. Bring the pot to a simmer, and let the beans cook until they’re tender. This could take anywhere from 1 to 4 hours depending on the beans.

When the beans have reached the desired doneness, strain them and set them aside.

Now, make the vinaigrette. Put the lemon juice into a large mixing bowl, and then grate in the garlic using a rasp-style grater (e.g., a Microplane). Stir those two ingredients to combine. Then whisk in the olive oil. (Because there’s no emulsifier, it really doesn’t matter how quickly or slowly you add it.) Add the herbs, and whisk them in to combine.

Then add the still-warm beans to the mixing bowl and stir to coat.

Serve the beans hot, or let them cool and serve them lukewarm.

Soups can be very complicated in their simplicity.

For this soup, you really need to commit and used great dried black beans — not something from a can — to get the best results. I’d highly recommend heirloom black beans from somewhere like Rancho Gordo. As a bonus, heirloom beans usually cook a lot more quickly and evenly than their conventional counterparts, which tend to be older and drier.

As with most soups, this is greatly enhanced with an excellent stock. I tend to have chicken stock on hand, the remnants of roast, and a great veggie stock also works if you want to make this vegan. In a pinch, it’s still pretty good if you use water in place of the stock.

Ingredients

• 160 g dried black beans
• Water
• Olive oil
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 sticks celery, finely diced
• 2 medium carrots, brunoise
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 L stock (or water)
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt
• Pepper
• Crème fraîche (optional)
• Cilantro (optional)

Method

Start by soaking the beans. In a large bowl, cover the beans with water by a factor of about two. Let them soak for six hours or overnight. Drain the beans and set them aside.

Warm a film of olive oil in a medium stockpot or Dutch oven on medium heat.

Then add the onion, celery, and carrots with a pinch of salt. Sweat the aromatics down until they’re soft and translucent, 10 to 20 minutes.

Add the garlic and cook it until it’s fragrant, about a minute. Then add the cumin and paprika, once again cooking until the mixture is fragrant.

Pour in the stock along with the soaked beans and the bay leaf.

Bring the mixture up to a simmer, and then hold it there until the beans are cooked through, about two to four hours, depending on the beans.

Remove the bay leaf. Transfer half the soup to a blender and blend the mixture until it’s a smooth purée. Add it back to the pot with the remaining soup.

Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. Optionally, drizzle the finished soup with olive oil, and add a quenelle of crème fraîche and some cilantro.