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| French beans from "Barefoot Contessa Foolproof" really are. |
The new cookbooks on the coffee table were inspiration and
guilt in a single pile. Promises of glorious meals to come, each with so many
recipes yet untried. Compounding that hope and angst was the knowledge that I
already own a wall of cookbooks chockful of savory dishes still waiting their
turn at the stove. Combine that with a url my husband gave me for my birthday
that I’ve never done anything with, and a resolution was born: I’d make at
least one new-to-me recipe from all of
my 226 cookbooks this year and post the results on the site to keep me motivated
– and to keep me from buying too many more cookbooks.
To start off the project and warm up the kitchen on New Year’s
Day, I opted to try the French flageolet beans from “Barefoot Contessa
Foolproof” (http://www.amazon.com/Barefoot-Contessa-Foolproof-Recipes-Trust/dp/0307464873)
I didn’t happen to find flageolet beans at my closest store
and didn’t feel like driving around town New Year’s Eve looking for them, so I
tried it with great Northern beans. Next time I happen to see a package of flageolets,
I’ll grab it for future use and compare. The great Northerns worked just fine, the
recipe was fabulous comfort food, and a great accompaniment to our traditional
New Year’s meal of lamb.
You’ll need bacon, onions, fresh fennel, garlic, carrots,
bay leaves, rosemary and broth. If you’ve got a No. 24 Le Creuset Dutch oven,
it fits perfectly in there. I found the time estimates to be spot on, and this
is a definite repeater.
Here’s a link to the recipe:
