Fresh Cranberry Beans!

[Jim White]

Our CSA basket yesterday had a very pleasant surprise: fresh cranberry beans.

Here they are most of the way through shelling:



While shelling them, it became clear that the pods with no remaining green gave the really colorful beans, while the ones with more green in them gave beans that were still green, themselves. In reading about cooking them, I found people cooking the green ones, so it would seem proceeding with them will be safe. There aren't a lot of them, so I'm thinking about cooking them in some chicken broth with garlic, olive oil and a bay leaf. (Onions are out for me this week on the low fiber/low residue diet before Monday's colonoscopy). I'll probably mix them with a half pound of cooked pasta that's been dusted with microplaned Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino Romano and then just add balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing, although I'm also thinking about a lemon cream sauce instead.

Does anyone have experience with these? They look so wonderful and I want to make sure I don't mess them up. Reading tells me they only need to simmer 20 minutes or so, but I'm thinking about adding some boiling time up front to make sure no lectins survive.

[hoovarmin]

Bonus! I've never had Cranberry Beans before.

[Jim White]

They're very popular with the Rancho Gordo crowd.

[Sid P]

Heck, I’ve never even heard of them.

[texastweeter]

Ditto.

[Jim White]

Well, not much to look at but first samples were tasty. I went with the balsamic vinaigrette.



Letting it chill a bit and then I'll dig into some before heading off to baseball.

[Jim White]

smokenoob I’m not into squid ink.

[barelfly]

Baseball!!!!!! what a great meal for pre-game!

[Jim White]

barelfly Sadly, we got rained out tonight, but the bright side is a doubleheader tomorrow.

[usleck]

In Italian, they are called Borlotti. Fantastic for salads, soups and side dishes. Some boiled beans, shallot, lemon, olive oil and salt, and you're ready to go. Enjoy!

[klflowers]

I have made the dried rancho gordo cranberries several times. Good solid bean, but not my favorite. Never tried them with pasta though. Need to give it a shot

[realdocBBQ]

So onions are out, but beans are IN??? Something doesn't seem to jive with that to me....

[Jim White]

It's a crazy chart: green beans and wax beans are okay, dried beans aren't allowed. But I thought these were close enough to wax beans and things not specifically mentioned as out are okay.