You know, I truly believe that beans get a bad rap. It’s true that they are finding their way into more and more gourmet kitchens, but overall beans are still generally treated like the smelly kid who sat in the back of your fourth grade class. Aside from the odd pot of baked beans, I never really ate them as a normal part of my diet until a few years ago and I never dreamed there was such an amazing array of shapes, sizes and flavors.
I think one of the coolest things about the bean is the versatility. True the most common way to cook them is to simmer them for hours with various ingredients and served as a stew of sorts. But, it is so simple to take them out of the pot and imagine something beyond the bowl and spoon. In India dosas have been made for years from gently fermented daal. One of the most beloved of all dips hummus is an amazing way to use beans, and Clotilde Dusoulier has a recipe for a wonderful white bean dip that I highly recommend. Whipped cannelini beans have been making gains against mashed potatoes for sometime now.
When many of you think of potato pancakes, no doubt you think of latkes. Not me. I grew up eating creamy smooth potato pancakes made from leftover mashed potatoes (good excuse to mash a few extra!). I started thinking about them a few weeks ago and the idea of using beans in their place really captured me. After a whirlwind of mixing, testing and tasting I have come up with this weeks recipe.
The pancakes contain a large amount of parmesan cheese, but are not overtly cheesy and it compliments the richness of the cannelini. I added a touch of garlic, but this definitely does not follow my usual trend of the more garlic the better. I really think too much garlic would really detract from the finished product. I decided to make this dish a sort of fun play on breakfast through the addition of warm infused olive oil in place of the syrup most eat with their short stack. I think it is a fun little dish and hope you enjoy it.
Cannelini Bean Parmesan Pancakes
3 cups Cooked Cannelini Beans
1 cup Parmesan, grated and at room temp
3 eggs
1 TBS Fresh Lemon Juice
1 tsp Freshly Ground Pepper, make it a coarse grind
1/4 cup Milk
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1 1/2 TBS All-Purpose Flour
Pine nuts, for garnish
Rosemary Sprigs, for garnish
Warm Infused Oil
Combine your ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.
Heat up a non-stick or other well seasoned skillet, adding a glug of olive oil to the pan. Using a small measuring cup or good sized spoon add the batter to the pan, being sure to keep the pancakes relatively small. Think biscuit instead of frisbee. Cook on both sides, being careful when flipping, until they are golden brown. Set on a towel to remove any excess oil.
Arrange on a plate sprinkling with pine nuts sprigs of rosemary and drizzling with the warm infused olive oil.
Warm Rosemary and Garlic Infused Olive Oil
3/4 cup Olive Oil (use something rich and flavorful)
1 Sprig Rosemary
1 Garlic Clove, lightly smashed and peeled
Place your ingredients in a sauce pan and heat up to a simmer, keep a watchful eye. Reduce the heat to low and allow to sit for 15 minutes before turning off. Allow the ingredients to infuse for 1 hour at the very least. I gave mine overnight. Before serving warm up the oil gently, being absolutely careful not to over heat and burn yourself. It should be warm enough when you can feel warmth radiating off of the pan. Do not, I repeat do not test it on your skin. I am sure most of you know that, but we all know there are a few who don’t.
Serve drizzled over my cannelini bean pancakes.
Note: These can also be used as a base for a larger dish. Maybe topped with an herb salad, roasted tomatoes or some sort of seared seafood. As usual, the possibilities are endless.
I so agree with you about the importance of beans. And, besides, they’re so comforting. I think one of the issues is that many people think of canned beans that are so mushy and over salted. Soaking and cooking or quick cooking your own beans is easy and cheap and you get a much improved texture which is an important part of what makes them such a building block.
How clever of you to make the association with the way they’re used in Indian food as a flour! I’m crazy about Indian and use garbanzo flour as a thickener and for the flavor but I still would never have thought of expanding the use this way. Dopey of me but that’s why I’m so glad to have someone who is so creative with food to turn to.
These sound wonderful! Until the pic is available would you describe them as more pancakey or more crepey/papadamy?
Thanks Rainey! They are definitely more pancakey or blini-ish. Have you ever made dosas before? Maya Kamal has an amazing recipe.
this sounds delicious! I still have a bit of an uneasy relationship with beans… I really WANT to like beans, but when I try to experiment with them, the results are often less than stellar… Pureeing them then making little cakes seems fool proof though
It really is simple Jen. They are so flavorful and creamy, I think you’ll enjoy them.
I don’t know how your experiments went, but that fava bean dish was amazing!
Love the new site design, Erin!
I eat beans almost daily and cannelini are one of my favourites. Your pancakes are so sophisticated and would make a great dinner party starter.
Thank you Angela! Aren’t they wonderful? They are such a fun ingredient to work with. I loved the steak, cannelini and balsamic dish you posted.
Lovely! I will be trying this.
Nuts!
I just went to soak some cannelinis to do this tomorrow and almost all of my beans had some sort of weevil. I know it came in with some borlotti beans I bought some time ago. I thought I had isolated the ones that were affected and gotten rid of them. As a prevention, I put all the rest of my dry beans in a glass canister with a heavy top. But, alas!, they were hiding in there.
My lentils survived. And some flageolet. Think this would work with flageolet?
Hi Rainey, I am sure it will work perfectly with the flagolets. I hope you enjoy this recipe!
Denise, Have fun and enjoy!
Home run, Erin!
I was eating them directly from the pan. Didn’t even bother with the pumpkin seed oil that I infused. I love the crispiness of the surface and the softness of the interior. I used frozen lemon juice. Bet the sharp, clean tang of fresh would have been wonderful.
I made mine with whole wheat flour. Would have liked buckwheat, I think, but I wasn’t going to buy a bag for 1 1/2 T. ;> Next time I might use cornmeal flour. If it doesn’t bind as well as milled wheat flour, I’ll just add it in addition. I think that second kind of crunch could be interesting. I also added some salt (there is never enough salt for me in anything), some finely chopped shallot and some of Alice Water’s puréed garlic that I always have in the fridge.
I’m sure you could do the batter a day in advance if you had to because there’s no leavening to de-gas. And this may be the best raw batter since cookie dough — a sort of tasty sharp Parmesan hummus, if you will.
I want to try this with roasted duck. I think the flavors would compliment one another beautifully. I think tapenade or caponata would be wonderful toppings as appetizers. A little créme fraîche and a dot of caviar couldn’t hurt them either. As you said, very versatile; lots and lots of promise!
Home run! Thanks so much for sharing.
PS Yours are so pretty!
And Phil’s photography ain’t too shabby neither. ;>
Rainey, I am so glad you liked the recipe! I love hearing the creativity that comes from one of my recipes. I am all over the roasted duck, I can almost taste the pan juices!
I want to eat these with smoked salmon and baby greens. Is that wrong? Would the whole thing be too salty with the parmesan in the pancakes?
Not wrong at all, though I’d probably add something creamy to absorb some of the saltiness.
Creme fraiche it is then.
THESE ARE AMAZING.
We made ours with almond milk instead of dairy, added garlic and onion and paired them with sauteed peppers, zucchini and eggplant. We’re going to try freezing the extra batter for our next experimental batch!
Soooooo Good!!
Thank you Carolyn! I’ll have to try them with sautéed vegetables on top.