Italian Baked Beans

We made these for the first time yesterday, and they are wonderful! A variety of beans can be used in this dish: cannelini, cranberry, or pinto beans. Because we were running out of all of the above, we used a little of each. Serve these beans with a dark green and either crusty bread or rice. For dinner, we made red chard and french bread as accompaniments. The leftover beans and chard were served at lunch with a new batch of rice.



Italian Baked Beans

2 cups (about 1 pound) cannelini, cranberry, or pinto beans
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
5 small cloves or 3 large cloves garlic
12 leaves (about 2 sprigs) sage
Boiling water
Salt and pepper

Soak beans overnight. Place beans in a casserole with olive oil, garlic, and sage and top with boiling water until water sits 1 inch above the beans. Cover and bake at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Add salt and pepper to taste.