We used to eat lots of beans when I was growing up in the U.S. -- mostly baked of the Boston variety (my parents were New Englanders), and in the colder months. I don't think it would have occurred to my mother to cook beans in the summer.

Italians instead do, especially borlotti (cranberry beans), which are quite flavorful, and very good cool -- simply drizzle them with a little extravirgin olive oil, some salt, some freshly ground pepper, and add finely sliced onion if you like it. The perfect side dish, and if you want to make a meal of them add some crumbled canned tuna, say 2-3 ounces (50-75 g), well drained, per person.

A green salad, crusty bread to mop up the drippings, a white wine (A Vermentino from Bolgheri, and both Antinori's and Ornellaia's are nice) and you're set!

I have found cannellini in the US, labeled as white kidney beans. Borlotti are instead quite similar to cranberry beans, and indeed large quantities of American dried cranberry beans are labeled borlotti and exported to Italy. Kidney and navy beans are similar to borlotti in flavor, and will work as substitutes.

Now they are a popular vegetable, and an important ingredient in a great many soups. In the past, however, their role was much more important: "People say, with good reason, that beans are the meat of the poor man," wrote Pellegrino Artusi in 1891 (my translation, from The Art of Eating Well). "Indeed, if, in feeling around in his pocket, a worker unhappily realizes he doesn't have enough to buy a piece of meat sufficient to make a soup for his family, he will find in beans a healthy, nutritious, and inexpensive alternative. And there's more: beans stay with one for a long time, stifling the pangs of hunger..."

Beans are, alas, a stormy vegetable, and people have resorted to many strategies to keep the thunder at bay. Artusi suggests one select thin-skinned beans, but this is not always possible. Another technique is to soak the beans overnight in water that has had a little soda added to it; this will help diminish their potency. Be sure to rinse them very well the next morning before you cook them, however -- drain them in a colander, and stir them about while wetting them down with a sprayer.

When it comes to cook your beans, the standard Italian food recipes technique is to boil them in enough water to cover them by at least an inch, while keeping a little more hot water on hand in case more proves necessary. Boil them gently until they reach the soft-but-firm stage; the exact time will depend upon the freshness of the beans: With fresh beans it can be as little as 20 minutes, whereas with dried beans it can be an hour or more.

Emilia romagna region specialty food recipe