Italian Warm Bean Salad

These incredibly tasty, spoon-greedily-into-your-mouth, comforting beans are perfect on their own but can also used as a base for so many meals.  

I'm calling this a salad but it doesn't have to be...serve the beans hot with wilted spinach and cooked chicken tossed through; or with melting mozzarella and sizzling pancetta; served warm with peppery rocket leaves and a fillet of seared salmon or tuna; cold with cooked prawns stirred through; or mixed with chunks of feta cheese, fresh cucumber, tomato and green olives.

I often make a large quantity and keep it in the fridge to be used over a couple of days.  It's also great to take to a party when someone asks you to take a salad...you'll be thanked for this.

Borlotti are generally my bean of choice here as I love their earthy richness, however the beautiful cannellini bean also works very well.  It's entirely your call, I'm seeing the borlotti as Javier Bardem compared to the cannellini as Brad Pitt (or Chris Hemsworth, younger version)....completely a personal choice*.  Actually, why not throw caution to the wind and do a combination of the two?  Imagine that...bean heaven.
* In a bid not to appear to be sexist, if you prefer to compare Salma Hayek to Gwyneth Paltrow it does the same thing.

Serves 2 very generously or 4-6 as a side

Ingredients

2 tins (400g) Borlotti beans 

or around 150g of dried (soaked overnight then cooked for about an hour)

Olive Oil

1 Red Onion, diced

1 Red Chilli, diced (optional, if you like a little spice)

4 Cloves of Garlic, minced or diced

Salt and Black Pepper

White Wine

1 Red Pepper, skinned under the grill (if you can be bothered) and diced

2-3 Ripe Tomatoes, deseeded and diced

a handful of Fresh Basil (one of those small packs in the supermarket)

a squeeze of Fresh Lemon

• Heat a generous glug of olive oil in a large frying pan or skillet and tip in the diced red onion and chilli (if using) along with plenty of salt and pepper.  Turn the heat down and sizzle for approximately 5 minutes until the onion is soft.
• Add the garlic, cook for a couple of minutes then pour in enough white wine to cover the base of the pan.  Let this bubble away until the liquid is reduced by about half.
• When the liquid is quite syrupy tip in the beans and stir well to coat them.  Add the diced pepper and tomato and again give it a good stir.
• Turn off the heat and leave to cool slightly before stirring through torn basil leaves.
• Just before serving squeeze in half a lemon and check for seasoning, it usually benefits from a last sprinkling of sea salt and a few grinds of black pepper.