Sunday, June 5, 2011

Sautéed Butter Beans with Swiss Chard



This past weekend I tried another recipe from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Cooking cookbook. Other than beans, this recipe incorporates another all-time favorite of mine, Swiss Chard, but you could easily substitute spinach in this recipe. This was a great side dish for our Memorial Day hamburgers on the grill.

Heidi's recipe suggests starting with medium or large dried white beans with the standard overnight soaking method.  There is always the quick method of boiling dried beans, bring to a boil, rest in pot for an hour and then boil again until cooked, which I use when I cook chick peas for hummus. Unfortunately, when I made these, I didn't have the time for either method so I used organic canned butter beans. I would highly recommend cooking the beans yourself, as the canned beans became a little too soft.  The dish still turned out delicious but the beans would have had a crispier coating had I cooked them myself.. 


The drained beans (I patted them somewhat dry with paper toweling) are sautéed in clarified butter in a very large sauté pan until browned on both sides but still creamy on the inside. Sauteed onion, garlic and chopped swiss chard are added and the mixture is drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with grated Parmesan. So good!



Sautéed Butter Beans with Swiss Chard
Adapted from Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson

Printable Recipe

Serves 4 as a side dish

1/2 pound large dried white beans, cooked according to package instructions, or, 1 can large white beans such as butter beans
3 tablespoons clarified butter or olive oil
Fine sea salt
1 onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
6-7 large leaves of Swiss chard (or fresh spinach leaves), large center vein removed and leaves cut into strips
Fresh ground black pepper

Extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Drain beans and pat off as much excess moisture as possible.

Heat the butter or oil in the largest sauté pan you own over medium-high heat. Have a medium-sized bowl nearby. Add the beans to the hot skillet in a single layer. This can be done in batches if you don't have a large pan. Stir to coat the beans with the butter or oil and then allow to brown on one side for about 3-4 minutes. Turn over and brown the other side for about 3-4 minutes until browned. Salt to taste. Remove beans from pan to a bowl or platter*.

Add the onion and cook for 1-2 minutes, until the onion is soft. Stir in the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the Swiss chard and cook until it just begins to wilt, about 2-3 minutes. Return the beans to the pan and mix together with the onions and chard. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Drizzle with a little extra-virgin olive oil, sprinkle with grated Parmesan and serve.

*The original recipes leaves the beans in the pan for the next few steps but I didn't want them to become over-cooked.

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Here is what I've been up to the past week...

I mulched the garden paths and borders and planted annuals in between the perennials.  The clematis vines were fertilized and trained up their supports.



 


I watched the tree peonies open as it is such a spectacular, but brief, show:




The herbs I planted this year are regular and lemon thyme, Tuscan Blue rosemary, regular rosemary, creeping rosemary, basil, French tarragon, and a variety of tomatoes. I planted parsley, chervil, arugula, oregano and more basil in the garden along with lots of edible nasturtium.


The flower containers were filled and planted. 



 If I disappear for another week, you know where I'll be :)

54 comments:

  1. Oh you have been very busy! Love the flowers and the beautiful terra cotta pots. All the mulching looks great...that's coming here next week. Not my favorite chore, but it always looks so nice.

    Enjoy your week and do not worry about catching up!

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  2. You've had a very busy week, it all looks beautiful! Are butter beans like Lima beans? They look delicious.

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  3. wow what a great dish and your a first class gardener love it

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  4. Thank you for showing us your garden, I am also lost in the garden.

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  5. I am in love with the terra cotta pots! The recipe sounds divine. I have a bunch of chard to harvest right now. Better get to it and try this recipe. The mosaic is so pretty, especially with the frame around it!

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  6. I love the dish and your garden looks so beautiful, thanks for showing it to us!

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  7. Your garden looks beautiful and the recipe sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing! Have a great week!

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  8. You have such a beautiful garden. the photos are so pretty! Awesome dish making the most of your wonderful garden!

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  9. So many beautiful photos and mosaics! Fantastic. The beans look delicious and your garden is a dream. Just saw that my first ELF clematis started today, among them Guernsey Cream, a favourite. Your treepeonies are just fabulous. Very special red colour, have not seen it before. Do you have the name?

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  10. Your beans & swiss chard sound so good~ I'll have to try! Peonies do put on a dazzling but all too brief show~ Love your terra cotta pots elevated at different heights~

    Happy Gardening :-)

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  11. The beans look great Susan! I don't have the dried big ones, but think I have some baby limas in the closet... Your yard is beautiful, love the great colors of your peonies-yellow-WOW! Have fun:@)

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  12. Getting a garden going is so much work... lucky the result is so satisfying! Your garden is just lovely, Susan... it must give you enormous pleasure. I love the herbs in pots.... I could never do that because my garden was in a weekend house... they would all dry out without watering and watching... they look so lovely that way.

    Great recipe... saw butter beans at the market.

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  13. You have been busy! Ahead of me as usual plant wise..my peonies are only budding..Is that Johnson's Blue or Rozanne? My JB is just budding too..Gotta love both!
    I love your mulched paths..that always looks like care to me..

    Your pots and herbs..all is welll there:)

    How does Mack love the gardens?

    The beans look good too and I would like the soft canned ones..

    Super Susan..

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  14. What excites me most about your garden are the edible nasturtiums, although the "eye candy" creates a stunning show.

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  15. How wonderful to have a green thumb and to be able to grow all of these veggies; I am especially envious of the edible flowers! Can already imagine all the things that could be done with them! Great beans dish, we have a similar one in the lebanese kitchen made with chard and blackeyed peas

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  16. This recipe and some cornbread???? yummy! I will be putting this together soon....

    The gardens are absolutely beautiful!

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  17. Thanks, everyone!

    Yes, Carol, they are lima beans. I never liked limas either but when they're called butter beans they seem to taste much better :)

    Ingmarie, the tree peony is called Shima-Nishiki. Some years it has much more white in the petals but not this year. Likely because it was such a cold spring.

    Monique, it isn't either one. The blue flowers are actually Veronica prostrata "Blue Eyes". You know how I love blue in the garden :) Mack is still oblivious to the garden. He prefers dandelions - LOL.

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  18. That is a lovely garden to disappear to! Your flowers and plants are all growing well and beautiful! All the veggies that you are planning to plant sounds great! I would love to disappear in your garden and like you, create some magic!
    Your beans and swiss chard looks wonderful and would be a nice reward after a hard day at the garden!
    Happy Gardening!

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  19. Susan I love this and love your garden, specially peonies, look absolutely nice and lovely that I miss in Autumn, I love flowers! gloria

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  20. I love that you shared your garden with us today Susan.
    i have not seen swiss char is years; what a grat combination of healthy ingredients.
    Rita

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  21. All your hard work shows, Susan. Your garden is beautiful. I know I will love this recipe for chard and butter beans. I still haven't planted my herbs yet. I guess I better get with it.

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  22. Beautiful gardens! While I was in our community garden yesterday, a fellow gardener gave me a recipe for swiss chard with potatoes and not I have 2 new recipes to try...thank you.

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  23. Susan, I am saving this Swiss chard recipe to try as it looks so very tasty and tempting. You have a great garden...I really should learn more about gardening.

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  24. Sounds good! You have been busy. Your garden is so pretty and healthy looking - thanks for sharing your beautiful flowers. Have never had any luck with peonies.

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  25. Wow - Your flower gardens are magnificent. Neither Bev nor I are big fans of straight greens, but find cooked with other things, especially beans, they work very well for us.

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  26. A lovely, lovely posting. Thanks so much. And will you post the containers when they've all filled in?

    All joys to you,

    Sharon Lovejoy Writes from Sunflower House and a Little Green Island

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  27. Your garden looks amazing! It sure requires much attention, which is good because you get an excuse to stay outside! Lovely recipe as well... I will try it out, i love sautéed beans!

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  28. Susan, beautiful garden...I wish I had all this space to plant...thanks for sharing the pictures.
    I never had sauteed beans with greens, and will sure thy this out. Looks delicious with the beans almost melting.
    Have a great week ahead :-)

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  29. Oh my, you've been busy- your garden is absolutely gorgeous! That chard and lima bean dish looks delicious too- chard is in season right now and beautiful! :)

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  30. I'm a southern girl and love my butter beans. What a great and healthy idea to combine them with Swiss chard in a dish.

    Your garden is lovely Susan. You're after my own heart with three kinds of rosemary, a personal favorite of mine. It must be warm there now since you've planted basil.
    Sam

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  31. I love your garden... it is so inspiring! The swiss chard and butter beans look like a winning combination of flavors, colorful and healthy! My first visit here aand enjoyed your site very much. I'll be back!

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  32. hey...we are taking a ride in the same boat..i have been in the garden and yesterday made butter bean soup

    :-)

    kary and teddy

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  33. Thank you Susan for taking the trouble visiting my blog and giving me the name of the tree peony. I am very happy to tell you I have found Shima-Nishiki here in Sweden.

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  34. Seems you've been busy but the result is wonderful. Love the garden. Looks very arranged and beautiful like a small piece of heaven Susan. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

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  35. Oh beautiful garden! I hope that I will have similar garden in the future. Currently I have small garden on balcony, only with herbs.

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  36. You were really busy, but look at the rewards!

    I kept hovering over each and every image, but couldn't decide what I loved most, a serving of your butter beans, or the garden.
    So, I decided to imagine myself in your prolific garden, enjoying this lovely dinner. Problem solved.

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  37. Omigosh, your garden is GORGEOUS!!! Can you come and do my garden? ;)

    And oh, I'm drooling on the keyboard at that dish... :)

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  38. What a wonderful garden you have Susan!Really lovely...A warm hug...

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  39. I knew I recognized that recipe from somewhere! And found it completely irresistible. This is definitely my kind of dish!

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  40. Oh, Susan! Your garden looks abosolutely lovely! I also love all the herbs you are able to plant.

    I love Swiss Chard and all kinds of beans,so this is my kind of recipe recipe. I think I need this cookbook ;)

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  41. Susan, I am impressed at your hard work in the garden! I'll see if the library has the cookbook.

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  42. You've done some gorgeous work, Susan! I'm in love with your garden. Definitely worth every minute of your time.

    As for your dish...it couldn't be simpler to put together and the flavors sound wonderful. Love chard and love finding another way to serve it. (It's great with garlic, isn't it?)

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  43. Susan, you have managed to make me want to cook a bean dish. the photos are lovely as well as your garden flowers and potted plants. Joni

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  44. Your vegetable looks delicious!
    And your gardens look wonderful! I am half done. The smell of the peony beats the rose, but I like them too.
    I have to send you a pic of the clematis on my arbor. They bloomed, but the leaves are all turning brown. I have never seen anything like it. I wonder if I should just cut them way back and start over?
    Beautiful mosaic!

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  45. Sounds like you had fun in the garden! Beautiful!

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  46. Susan, King Arthur was wonderful, wish you could have joined us! I was so excited to see your recipe! Susan @ FBMKW bought some Swiss chard at the Farmers Market we stopped at. I'll have to tell her about your recipe. I've been looking for some nice healthy meatless recipes, and yours fits the bill! Have a wonderful weekend!

    Mary

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  47. I was so excited about the Swiss Chard that I forgot to tell you how beautiful and lush your gardens look!

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  48. The recipe has been bookmarked. It looks and sounds delicious. I've enjoyed a "walk" through your beautiful garden!

    I just returned from up your way. I was in Fond du Lac for a few days and the weather was very nice. Except for the construction around the airport off ramp, traffic was with me all the way.

    Best,
    Bonnie

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  49. Can't wait to try these beans. Love the combination with the Swiss chard.

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  50. Thanks everyone!

    Bonnie, don't even get me started on the construction here &#$$@!!!

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  51. I congratulate you beautiful garden, I love flowers, I have a large garden all the roses I like but I have the love the white, red and yellow, the luck I have two dogs and I care for them, peace is felt flowers and a beautiful view garden, love and big hugs.

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