The secret to better summer beans

Once I grew up just enough to start grocery shopping according to a budget — not merely the amount of cash rattling around in my wallet that week — I realized something peculiar. For some reason, whenever I reached for cheap pantry staples, I kept ending up in winter.

Let me explain.

I’d stock up on bags of beans and rice and day-old bread and, before long, it would be July 7. The air conditioner would be groaning heroically in the window while I stood over a Dutch oven of long-simmered chili or a poor woman’s cassoulet (chicken thighs in place of duck), steadily adding heat to an apartment that already had plenty to spare.

Looking back, I think I’d accidentally fused the ingredients themselves to the preparations I most associated with them. Lentils weren’t just lentils; they were stew. Beans weren’t just beans; they were something that needed to bubble away on the stove for hours. These were foods for when snow was falling outside and “stick to your ribs” sounded reassuring rather than vaguely threatening.

I considered myself reasonably food-savvy at the time, but there was one thing I had somehow never thought about: pantry staples have seasons, too.

Or perhaps more accurately, they can.

Take beans.

The secret to summer beans, at least in my opinion, is to marinate them.

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People may want to quibble with me about this, but I believe marinated beans occupy a category adjacent to, yet ontologically distinct from, bean salad. They’re cousins. Close cousins, perhaps. But not the same thing. In my bean salads, acid tends to take center stage.

Here, it’s fat.

And here’s why: The first truly memorable marinated beans I ever ate arrived in a shallow white bowl at a vegetarian Mediterranean restaurant near Adams Morgan in Washington, D.C. This was about eleven years ago and, frustratingly, I can no longer remember the restaurant’s name. What I do remember is the light.

It was happy hour. The patio was catching the late afternoon sun, and the olive oil surrounding the gigantes — those enormous, tender butter beans — seemed almost gilded. I kept tearing off pieces of crusty bread and dragging them through the oil before spooning the beans on top. The entire dish felt improbably luxurious for something built from ingredients I could have easily afforded myself. The discovery that a humble bean could feel indulgent came as something of a revelation.

I have a long-running habit of coming home from restaurants and immediately trying to recreate whatever I loved most. That bowl of gigantes was one of the first dishes that sent me straight to the grocery store.

For years afterward, versions of it appeared regularly in my summer cooking rotation. On a graduate student’s budget, and later a public radio paycheck, it felt almost decadent: a bowl of beans dressed generously with olive oil, lemon and whatever herbs happened to be in season. The sort of meal that costs very little but somehow convinces you otherwise.

Here’s what you’ll need.

Good olive oil  — If you’ve spent much time with me in the kitchen, you’ll know I’m usually fairly relaxed about substitutions. Part of becoming a confident cook is learning how to improvise your way through a recipe. Half-and-half plus lemon juice can become something resembling buttermilk. Sour cream can stand in for yogurt. We survive. This is one of the rare occasions where I’m going to encourage a little stubbornness.

The olive oil is the point.

You don’t need the most expensive bottle on the shelf, nor one that arrives with a romantic backstory about a hillside grove. Just choose an olive oil you’d happily use in a vinaigrette and whose flavor you genuinely enjoy. If you need to drift toward avocado oil, I’ll allow it. Vegetable oil, however, would feel a bit like showing up to a garden party in fluorescent gym shorts.

Tender white beans: Cannellini beans, Great Northern beans, navy beans, gigantes, even lima beans. What you’re looking for is that creamy, almost velvety interior that absorbs olive oil so enthusiastically.

Aromatics, herbs and spices: This is where things become delightfully difficult to mess up. A good starting formula is one aromatic, one fresh herb and one dried herb or spice.

Fresh garlic, parsley and red pepper flakes. Shallot, dill and oregano. Rosemary, onion powder and thyme. The exact combination matters less than the feeling you’re after. And then top the whole thing with salt, the flakier the better.

Acid: You’ll need something to keep all that olive oil company. Lemon juice is wonderful. So is a bright vinegar. White wine vinegar works beautifully, though I also love the softer personality of rice vinegar and the faint fruitiness of white balsamic. And don’t neglect the zest.

Lemon zest is the obvious choice, but after reading this recipe by Bibi Hutchings, I’ve become increasingly fond of orange zest with beans. It’s unexpected in exactly the right way.

Extras: One of the things I love most about marinated beans is their restraint. They don’t need much. Still, I rarely resist a little edible confetti. A spoonful of chopped roasted red peppers. A few artichoke hearts. Some buttery Castelvetrano olives. Roasted garlic. The sort of briny treasures that tend to accumulate after an enthusiastic trip to the olive bar. Just enough to create moments of surprise. Not enough to distract from the beans themselves.

The technique: The technique is simple. For every can of beans, start with about 3 to 4 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 to 2 teaspoons of lemon juice or vinegar, plus your aromatics, herbs and spices. Stir everything together and let it sit for at least 30 minutes before eating, though a few hours in the refrigerator is even better.

This is also where marinated beans diverge from bean salad, at least in my personal taxonomy. Most vinaigrettes are built around a balance of oil and acid. Here, the ratio tips decidedly toward olive oil. The acid should be present enough to brighten the beans and keep the dish from feeling heavy, but not so assertive that it dominates. As the beans sit, they absorb some of the dressing’s flavor while also releasing a bit of their starch into the olive oil, creating something that feels almost silky.

The result is less salad than preservation: tender beans suspended in a fragrant pool of olive oil that’s perfect for spooning over toast or scooping up with vegetables. And here’s my current favorite version:

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