This recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman’s “White Beans, Tuscan-Style” on page 509 of How to Cook Everything. As Mark Bittman notes, great olive oil makes a difference in this recipe.

Anasazi Beans with Sage

About 1/2 pound dried Anasazi beans, washed and picked over
20 fresh sage leaves, rinsed (Optional: We also like them tied into a bundle with cooking twine, or enclosed in an improvised cheesecloth bag. This way, we can pull them out easily before serving.)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (I like Trader Joe’s Extra Virgin Unfiltered California Olive Oil)
Optional, but delicious: a little aged Cabot cheddar cheese, also available at Trader Joe’s

1. Soak the beans overnight.

2. Drain the beans, then place them in a pot with water to cover. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Add the sage; adjust the heat so the beans simmer. Cover loosely.

3. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thebeans begin to soften. add about 1/2 teaspoon salt and some pepper.

4. Meanwhile, lightly saute the minced garlic in the olive oil. (Heat the oil over over a medium flame for a minute or so before adding the garlic. Stir it until you can smell the garlic and it just slightly starts to turn a deeper golden color. The original recipe calls for raw garlic; I prefer the mellower taste of lightly sauteed garlic for this recipe.)

5. While you are sauteeing the garlic, the beans should continue to cook until they are very tender; add additional water if the beans dry out.

6. Drain the cooking liquid if necessary, remove the sage leaves if you like, and then stir in the garlic and olive oil, along with more salt and pepper, if necessary. Serve.

Bonus optional step: place a slice of aged Cabot cheddar cheese on top of the beans once you have served them into small bowls, and let it melt before bringing to the table.

Blue potatoes with slivered garlic

Adapted from the Fingerlings with Slivered Garlic recipe on p. 411 of Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

Olive oil
1 pound small All Blue potatoes scrubbed and sliced into about 1/3-inch thick rounds
6 big garlic cloves (or more small ones) sliced thinly
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Oil a small shallow baking dish (with some of the olive oil). Layer the potatoes in the dish with the garlic. Drizzle with oil. (About 3 tablespoons in addition to what was used to oil the dish — I don’t really measure, I just rub a little oil on the bottom and sides of the dish and then pour a little more oil down each row of potatoes for flavoring.) Season with salt and pepper.

Add a few tablespoons water to the dish, then cover and bake until tender, about 40 to 50 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for about 20 minutes longer until the potatoes brown on the bottom.

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Gavin and I think they might be caramelizing when they brown underneath in this recipe. They taste pretty amazing. If any food bloggers out there can confirm or deny whether or not it is possible to caramelize blue potatoes, please let us know.