A Bean called Fish

Fresh cranberry beans used to be a favorite end-of-summer dish. Now we can hardly get them, and they even lost their name...

Photo borrowed from “Cook to Heal”

Cranberry bean season is just ending here but we haven’t seen them fresh in the supermarkets and I wander if farmers’ markets sell them. You only get them frozen in packages. In fact I wonder if young people still know their name barbounia, the same as our most delicate, expensive, and loved fish.

They are now called handres (beads) I guess because the companies that package and sell them don’t want to confuse their customers with the fish barbounia, also sold frozen for those who don’t want to pay the stiff price of the fresh, delicious fish.

You may think that it is difficult to compare a plate of braised cranberry beans with the crunchy, cornmeal-crusted fried barbounia, especially like the super fresh ones we get from a neighbor’s boat sometimes, along with equally succulent skaros —a kind of Mediterranean parrot fish that is a rare delicacy that we also get from the fishing boats.

The name barbounia, from the expensive fish was probably given to them not just for their red spots —which unfortunately disappear as they cook— but also because they were particularly loved!

I assure you that cranberry beans, even the frozen ones, are among the most sought after beans here, especially as they need no overnight soaking —fortunately the habit of getting canned beans has not spread here yet...

Athanasia Moraiti, my late mother in law, cooked the mottled fresh cranberry beans together with potatoes and peppers, a combination I had not considered until I tasted it, and loved it. I was under the impression that shelled beans and potatoes were not the best combination for this easy stew, but I was wrong. Scroll down for the recipe.

I am surprised that lately most recipes in the newspaper and magazine newsletters I get propose contrived ‘healthy’ variations of colorful combinations of pre-cooked chickpeas with other kinds of beans plus various vegetables, raw and cooked. These are topped with nuts, dried fruit, and pieces of tofu, or chicken which features in most of these salad-dinner plates. They are usually doused in variations of Asian, or Mexican sauces.

I guess my traditional dish of beans would look far too simple to those attracted to the colorful foods that look gorgeous in the pictures. I wonder who actually cooks them though, and how they taste. They definitely are not as easy to make as they claim, even with canned beans, chickpeas, artichokes etc.

I miss our figs terribly!

Up until three years ago we harvested so many figs from our trees that I hardly knew what to do with them. Then we had a terribly dry year and our most productive trees died as did most fig trees on Kea. I had never imagined that we had to buy figs from the supermarket, but we do now.

Some of our new small fig trees started to bare tiny fruit this summer and we are hopeful… The other day I came upon a wonderful fig and almond cake by David Tanis and the craving intensified…

Almost ten years ago when we had a real plethora of all kinds of figs… If unlike us you do have figs, try David Tanis’ wonderful and easy fig cake (below)

Cranberry beans with peppers and potatoes

I am not sure you can get fresh or frozen cranberry beans in the US or W. Europe, but dried beans of any kind, not just cranberry, can be used for this dish. Feta cheese, with its salty-sour taste, complements ideally this as any bean stew.

4 servings

1 1/2 cups dried cranberry beans soaked overnight and drained or 1 pound fresh shelled cranberry beans

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 large sweet onion, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch strips

1/2-1 teaspoon cumin

1 cup chopped spicy sausage (like chorizo) casing removed (optional)

2 cups canned diced tomatoes

2 cups vegetable or chicken stock

4 thyme sprigs

2 bay leaves

1-2 teaspoons Aleppo or pinch of crushed red pepper to taste

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley (optional)

In a large saucepan, cover the beans with 3 inches of cold water and
bring to a boil. Cook for about 20 minute, until they start to soften.

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and sauté the onion until translucent, then add the tomato paste and cook for 2-3 minutes , then the bell pepper and cumin and cook over moderate heat until the pepper softened, about 7 minutes. Add the sausage, if using, and cook for 3 minutes, crumbling it with a spoon. Add the beans, tomatoes, stock or water, thyme, bay leaves and crushed red pepper and season with salt and pepper.

Cover partially and simmer over moderate heat until the beans soften, about 30 minutes. Add the potatoes, cover partially and cook until tender, about 15 minutes longer. Stir in the parsley, and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, if you like, and serve hot or warm, accompanied by feta cheese.

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The Foods of Greece and The foods of the Greek Islands with traditional recipes and stories about their origins