Warmth in Winter: Long-Simmered Beans

When I want inspiration for winter meals that will satisfy me down to my frozen fingertips, I turn to Italy’s bean dishes. These are simple, economical recipes, usually combining beans with a little olive oil, herbs and perhaps meat. They are also magical recipes that fill the kitchen with an earthy, sweet aroma that makes coming home a reward.

Look in any Italian cookbook for inspiration. There’s the dish that “brings back memories of cold winter nights when simple food brought my family closer together,” a delicious mixture of beans and sausage simmered in tomato sauce that Biba Caggiano describes in her cookbook, “Northern Italian Cooking” (Price Stern Sloan: 1981).

Who could not develop an appetite for Sienese-style bean soup that Giuliano Bugialli, an Italian cookbook author and teacher, sketches? It’s a combination of cannellini beans, red onions, garlic, basil, tomatoes, cabbage, pancetta and thyme. “It reaches its rustic peak in Tuscany where it’s served with raw red onion,” writes Bugialli in “Classic Techniques of Italian Cooking” (Simon & Schuster: 1982).

Or how about the soup from the Modena mountains in Italy that Lynne Rossetto Kasper discovered when researching “The Splendid Table” (William Morrow: 1992)? The recipe’s blend of at least seven vegetables and pinto beans is enough to banish the deepest chills.

Fortunately these dishes are relatively easy to make. And, although there’s romance and no small degree of practicality to making a huge potful, they can also be prepared in small amounts.

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This sausage, mushroom and bean ragout merges several recipes into a savory adaptation of Italy’s bean classics.

SAUSAGE, MUSHROOM AND BEAN RAGOUT

1 cup dried cannellini beans

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 pound coarsely chopped mushrooms (oyster, shiitake, Portobello or any flavorful mushroom)

1/2 pound salami or kielbasa or other dry sausage, sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 clove garlic clove, minced

1 small onion, diced

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 teaspoon minced fresh sage

Salt, pepper

Soak beans overnight in water to cover by 2 inches. Drain and rinse.

Heat oil in large skillet. Add mushrooms and saute 5 minutes. Remove and set aside.

Add salami, garlic and onion to skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until meat is browned, about 5 minutes. Add drained beans, chicken broth and sage. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer until beans are tender and mixture is thick and soupy, 45 to 60 minutes.

Add mushrooms to mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mixture should have stew consistency. If there is too much liquid, remove cover and simmer 5 minutes longer. Don’t season ragout before reducing liquid. Makes 2 generous servings.

Note : If desired, use 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans. Rinse under cold water to remove starchy liquid. Drain. Simmer, uncovered, with chicken broth and sage until mixture is heated through and thickened, about 15 minutes instead of 45 minutes.