Budget cooking: beans

Stretching your last bit of money just before your salary is deposited can be a challenge. You still want to eat well, of course. A can of beans is your salvation.

And don’t immediately say that you don’t like beans. Improperly prepared beans are mealy and indeed not tasty at all. But there’s a good chance you’ve simply never eaten really good beans, or dismissed them as a child and never tried them again. I fall into the latter category.

In that case, please try them one more time, and who knows, a world of healthy and inexpensive pulses may open up for you. Use cannellini beans or white beans—it’s simply a matter of which you prefer. You’ll pay less than a euro per can for either, and they’ll feed at least two people.

Soup

A hearty bean soup is the ultimate poor man’s meal. This one gets extra flavor from toasted spelt and pancetta. Just a little pancetta, otherwise it becomes too expensive.

Purée

Fave e cicoria is a bean purée typical of the Italian region of Puglia. Eat it with fried endive and croutons as in this recipe. It’s also delicious with red sauce, fried breadcrumbs, or charred peppers.

Pasta

Carbs on carbs—this can only be wonderful. Beans may not be the most obvious choice for a pasta sauce. But once you’ve tried this pasta with beans and garlic-rosemary oil, there’s no going back.

Salad

Pizza and pasta are all well and good, but no dish makes me think of Italy more than a simple white bean salad with tuna and red onion. In this recipe, capers and watercress are added for extra flavor. Don’t worry if you make too much—the next day, this salad is possibly even tastier.

Sausage and kale

These stewed beans with kale and sausage meat are ready in fifteen minutes and immediately feel decadent thanks to the poached egg on top. Because you fry the sausage meat in pieces and incorporate it into the dish, one sausage is more than enough for two people. That keeps it inexpensive.

Toast

We seize every opportunity to eat bread for dinner. Along with beans, this toast is topped with tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and a generous amount of Parmesan. A perfectly nutritious meal, if you ask us. Click here for the recipe for toast with white beans and balsamic tomatoes.

Fritters

These fried cakes made from puréed beans have a creamy interior with a crispy exterior. Together with yogurt-garlic sauce and a simple green salad, they make a wonderfully delicious meal.