Rose Prince - The New English Table - 200 Recipes from the Queen of Thrifty, Inventive Cooking

Mix the sauce ingredients together, breaking up the pine nuts as much as possible with the back of a wooden spoon. Spoon the sauce over the soup once it is ladled into bowls.

Baked Beans with Bacon, Molasses and Tomato

The nation’s favourite canned meal was once a pottage, which was exported to the Americas by early settlers and became Boston baked beans – a dish of salt pork and haricot beans sweetened with molasses (but not tomatoes, which I have added here to keep up with modern tradition). An earthenware pot or cast-iron casserole with a well-fitting lid prevents the beans and sauce drying out during cooking. Try to find good bacon – dry-cured from naturally reared pork will let a gentle meaty flavour seep into the beans.

Serves 4

175g/6oz white haricot or navy beans

4 tablespoons cold-pressed sunflower oil (or extra virgin olive oil)

2 thick slices of green (unsmoked) back bacon

1 onion, finely chopped or grated

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

200ml/7fl oz passata (puréed tomatoes)

1 dessertspoon molasses

1 tablespoon English mustard

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

sea salt

Soak the beans in plenty of water overnight or for 24 hours, then drain.

Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas Mark 2. Heat the oil in a casserole and add the bacon, onion and garlic. Cook over a medium heat until soft. Add the beans, then the passata, plus enough water to cover the beans by 3cm/1¼ inches. Add the molasses and bring up to a simmer. Cover, place in the oven and bake for about 3 hours, until the beans are tender. You may need to add more water to prevent them drying out. About half an hour before you eat, add the mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Finally, add a little salt to bring out the flavour of the beans. Eat with fried eggs or any type of hot sausage, including black pudding.

Pinto Beans and Venison

The suet in this dish is optional but it does give it an amazing flavour. This is a good braise to eat with polenta or wild rice. Alternatively, serve with boiled long grain rice, or sourdough bread that has been brushed with oil and toasted.

Serves 6

225g/8oz pinto or Mexican black beans

1 tablespoon beef dripping or extra virgin olive oil

1kg/2¼lb venison, cut into

1cm/½ inch cubes

2 heaped tablespoons grated beef suet (optional)

2 onions, finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

4 chipotle chillies, soaked in hot water for 30 minutes, then deseeded and chopped

2 teaspoons ground cumin

½–1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (to taste)

½ teaspoon ground cloves

600ml/1 pint beef stock – plus more to make it soupy, if necessary (see here)

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Soak the beans in plenty of water overnight or for 24 hours. The next day, drain the beans and put them in a pan. Cover with fresh water, bring to the boil and simmer for 1–1½ hours, until tender. Drain and set aside.

Heat the dripping or oil in a large casserole (preferably cast iron) and brown the meat well over a reasonably high heat. Lower the heat, then add the suet, if using, plus the onions, garlic, chillies and spices and cook for 2–3 minutes. Cover with the stock and simmer with the lid partly on for approximately 1 hour, until the meat is tender. Add the beans and cook over a very low heat for 15 minutes. Skim off any fat that floats on the surface. Taste for seasoning and serve.

White Bean Broth with Buttered Tomato and Lettuce

White beans make textured soups that keep their elegance. They are the favourite bean of Italian cooks for this purpose. They have a mild, slightly floury taste and texture that absorbs the flavours of other ingredients.

Use cannellini beans or white haricots for this soup. Haricots are usually only available dried; they are a round bean, staying firm and smooth even after a long simmer in the pan. Cannellini are kidney shaped and can become quite soft. They are the better choice for busy cooks, since canned ones are easily available. The best lettuce to use is Cos, sometimes called Romano, or the heart of any other large-leaf lettuce.

Serves 4

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 white or red onion, finely chopped

1 celery stick and leaves, chopped

1 small fennel bulb and leaves, chopped

1–2 pinches of dried oregano

2 cans (about 470g drained weight) of white cannellini beans, drained – or use 200g/7oz dried haricot beans, soaked in cold water overnight, then simmered in fresh water for 1–1½ hours, until tender

1.2 litres/2 pints vegetable or meat stock (see here, hereand here)

sea salt

To serve:

55g/2oz butter

1 garlic clove, chopped

4 small Cos hearts, cut into quarters, or the hearts of 2 larger lettuces, roughly chopped (use the outer leaves for salad)

4 plum tomatoes, skinned and diced

4 tablespoons grated Twineham Grange cheese (English Parmesan), or a hard ewe’s milk cheese such as Lord of the Hundreds or Somerset Rambler – or real Italian Parmesan

a small handful of basil leaves

a little extra virgin olive oil

Heat the oil in a large pan and add the garlic, onion, celery, fennel and oregano. Cook over a low heat for about 2 minutes until their edges begin to soften. Add the beans and stock and bring to the boil. Cook for about 5 minutes, then taste for salt.

Melt the butter in a separate pan, add the garlic and lettuce hearts and cook gently until soft; add the tomatoes and stir once. Divide the soup between 4 serving bowls and spoon the lettuce-tomato mixture on top. Scatter the grated cheese over the top with the basil. Shaking over a few drops of extra virgin olive oil will turn up the flavour.

	Kitchen note
Omit the tomatoes and use lovage for this recipe if you grow it. Lovage has a floral celery scent and is a rare treat.

Bean and Herb Salads

Plain cooked beans, either drained straight from the can or from a store you have prepared yourself, can be mixed with herbs, olive oil and lemon juice then seasoned to make a salad that can be eaten with almost anything. I tend to choose either white haricot beans or cannellini beans for this job because they have the tenderest skins. You can make an exotic and piquant version, however, with black Mexican beans (unavailable canned but will cook in about an hour), chopped grilled peppers, garlic, red chilli and coriander. It is very important not to overcook the beans. Their skins should remain intact and the ‘kernels’ inside must not be floury but should have a little bite to them.

Quick Braised Butterbeans

I can buy tins of butterbeans from the late-night grocer’s across the road. Drained, then flung into a pan with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, a chopped garlic clove and spring onion, a teaspoon of organic Marigold stock powder and a little water, they make a bean stew in no time. I throw over a chopped hot red chilli, shake on some extra virgin olive oil, then eat them from a bowl.

BEEF

The cheap cuts

Grilled Goose Skirt with Salad Leaves and Berkswell Cheese

Top of the Rump with Lemon and Parsley Butter

Flank with Tarragon Butter Sauce

Braised Shin of Beef with Ale