garlicky cannellini with grape tomatoes 

bob loves white beans. As a kid he was addicted to Campbell's bean with bacon soup. Nowadays with a lifetime of nutritional advice influencing, the bacon is on the black list but the beans remain beloved. Except without that regular lunchtime hit of once upon a time, the white beans are not seeing a lot of plate time in bob's food intake. Cannellini are the Italian white beans most familiar to most of us, and there are great side dishes that feature these legumes. So bob gives a look to the internet and thr first one that pops up seems to capture the spirit of what bob was looking for to complete ani's improvization with some eggplant, zucchini and (bob's suggestion) red-orange squash, starting off of course with chopped onion in olive oil. So bob works in parallel and is quite pleased with the result. Ani offers a luke warm appraisal. I guess you just can't please all the people all the time. But that's okay, cuisine is a very subjective art. In any case it made a complete protein meal and that is the goal of eating well, no?

This recipe has been modified for two hungry people by halving it. Like the reformatting of movies to fit airplane seat screens. Note the Aleppo red pepper, which was the clincher to convince bob to stop looking further.

ingredients

2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced (or more if you really like garlic)
1 T  extra virgin olive oil
15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained
1/4 c water
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved (we used grape tomatoes, they are a bit smaller)
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
1/4 teaspoon cumin (or more for Middle Eastern palettes)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4  c shaved Parmesan cheese
1/4 c grated Pecorino Romano
juice of half a lemon

instruction

  1. SaSaute the garlic briefly in the olive oil, ani always uses a light olive oil for this task.
  2. Throw in the rest of the stuff up to but not including the finishers starting with parsley.
  3. Cook, stirring occasionally until warmed through (about 10 minutes).
  4. Remove from the heat and stir in the finishers.
  5. Suzy says "• Finish with a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. ".
  6. We forgot that, let's just say that is optional.

notes

  1. Campbell's soup page: https://www.campbells.com/products/condensed/bean-with-bacon-soup/
  2. Google cannellini bean recipe search: https://www.google.com/search?q=cannellini+bean+recipes&oq=cann
  3. Recipe bySuzy Karadsheh https://www.themediterraneandish.com/white-beans-recipe/
  4. Illustrations available.
cannellini-etc.htm:15-may-2025 [what, ME cook? © 1984 dr bob enterprises]