Tuscan White Bean, Kale & Lemon Skillet
Cannellini beans crushed into their own broth with rosemary, garlic and cavolo nero, sharpened hard with lemon at the end.
Why it works
Crushing a quarter of the beans against the side of the pan releases their starch, which turns a thin stock into something that coats — no cream, no flour, no extra pan. Adding the lemon off the heat keeps its edge bright, where simmering would flatten it into something dull. The bread goes into the pan first and comes out oiled and rubbed with garlic, which is what turns a bowl of beans into dinner.
Method
- Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high. Fry the bread in two batches, a minute a side, until dark stripes appear. Scrape the cut side of the halved garlic over each slice and stack them on the board.
- Turn the heat down to medium and add the remaining oil, the sliced garlic, rosemary, chilli and anchovies if using. Cook 2 minutes, pressing the anchovies until they dissolve. The garlic should be pale gold, never brown.
- Add the leek, kale and a pinch of salt and toss 3 minutes, until the leaves darken to deep green and slump into the oil.
- Tip in the beans, tomatoes and stock. Simmer 4 minutes, crushing about a quarter of the beans against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon, until the liquid thickens and clings to the leaves rather than running off them.
- Off the heat, stir in the lemon zest and juice and most of the cheese. Taste and season — tinned beans need more salt than you expect.
- Lay two slices of toast on each plate and spoon the beans over them, finishing with the rest of the cheese and plenty of black pepper.
For the toddler
Leave the anchovies out at step 2 and hold the chilli to a pinch. Lift a ladleful at step 4, before the cheese and the seasoning go in at step 5, and use water in place of the stock if you want theirs plainer. Crush their beans with a fork, quarter the cherry tomatoes lengthways, chop the kale finely and give them plain toast fingers rather than the garlic-rubbed slices. Quarter any olives lengthways.
How the toddler notes workChef’s notes
Butter beans or borlotti both work. Spinach instead of kale needs only 30 seconds at step 3.
Use bagged shredded kale and you are down to 2 minutes of prep.
Fennel and orange in oil and black pepper, or a plate of salami and olives while the pan gets going.
Better on day two, once the rosemary has settled in. Keeps 4 days chilled; loosen with water and toast fresh bread for it.