Brothy miso beans with miso-butter mushrooms
A recipe created from a crowd-sourced ingredient list
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There was such a great reaction to my pantry mystery box challenge. So many wonderful lists, with a few clear common patterns of pantry excess - dried beans and root vegetables (lots of carrots!!!).
I will admit, my pantry is never without dried beans, but for weeknight cooking, I always use canned. This is because I am not good at pre-planning, so soaking beans (even a quick soak, more on this below) is not in my weeknight cooking vernacular. Yet, despite preferring canned beans, I still keep dried ones on hand. It feels like insurance for a rainy day (a feeling that is leftover from lockdown). It seems like many of you also share this habit.
With your encouragement and inspiration, I’m here to conquer my weeknight dried bean phobia. They might not be as easy as canned, but they have the potential to be much more flavourful.
As promised, I have created a recipe using one of the pantry mystery box lists supplied by readers last week. It was hard to choose one list -
’s list had me thinking of a saag paneer type dish, ’s ingredients felt perfect for a succotash-inspired dish, and ’s pantry staples had clear roasted root vegetable, apple and bean salad vibes. In the end, I chose ’s list because it used ingredients I had in my pantry.1) Dried beans (esp navy, black eyed pea, or Jacob’s cattle)
2) bay leaves
3) dried shiitake
4) miso
5) root veggies (not sure this qualifies as a pantry item, but we have a winter CSA so we always have tons!)
Since dried beans featured heavily on several lists, I thought it was a good time to talk about how to cook them. Cooking dried beans allows flavour to be infused during the process - add salt, garlic, an onion, herbs, vegetables, parmesan rind, whole spices etc to the liquid. I don’t soak overnight. I use a technique my mother taught me, where the beans are quickly boiled, then soaked in the hot water for 30 minutes and then boiled again with seasonings. This is called a quick-soak.
The other ingredients on Rachel’s list - bay leaves, dried shiitake, miso, root vegetables - are used to flavour the broth. I used carrot because that is an item that featured on a few lists, but you could also use pumpkin/winter squash like butternut, sweet potato or parsnip. I added celery and onion and a whole head of garlic for deeper flavours. When it’s done, the carrots, celery and garlic melt away into the broth, injecting a sweet, earthy umami hum, thickening the broth from soupy to stewy. The dried shiitake plays a big role in imparting savoriness to the broth. If you don’t have them, just leave them out of the broth, and pan-fry fresh mushrooms for the topping; it’s not essential but it adds interest to the dish.
When cooking dried beans, always bear in mind that the cooking time will depend upon how fresh your beans are. The older the beans, the longer or more inconsistently they will cook. So if you can, try to cook your dried beans as soon as possible (I will also remind myself this!).
The brothy beans can be eaten as written, or you can go in a different direction. Add more vegetable stock, along with tomatoes, green beans, potato, kale and macaroni for a minestrone-esque soup, or stir in tomato paste, cream and cheese to create a silky beany main. Add a bunch of greens like kale or spinach. Scoop some of the beans out and make this puttanesca-flavored soup or serve on top of crusty bread. Puree it up with tahini to make a dip.
Continuing with the bean and root vegetable therapy, here are weeknight wonders for this week. All NYT Cooking recipes have gift links:
Monday: This miso leeks with white beans has been such a popular dish. It is simple, yet sophisticated.
Tuesday: My deconstructed falafel salad from my book Family - shared here online under a different name) is a true explosion of flavour and texture.
Wednesday: Ceci e pepe (chickpea pasta with miso and pepper) is the ultimate pantry meal. The creamy chickpeas are the foundation of the ‘sauce’.
Thursday: Charred baby bok choy and cannellini bean salad is a great way to use up some Asian greens. Or sub the Asian greens with kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower!
Friday: This tin-can vegetarian bean chilli can't be beat. I love all the toppings, makes the dish feel really fun for the family.
🥦 My cookbook, Tenderheart is for cooking vegetables, all year round. Pick up your copy here. It is also mostly vegan (or vegan-izable) and gluten-free adaptable.
Brothy miso beans with miso-butter mushrooms
© Hetty Lui McKinnon for To Vegetables, With Love.
Other dried beans such as chickpeas, lima or butter beans can be used too. Cook time will vary depending upon the freshness and size of your beans so check them often. Don’t skimp on the olive oil as it really brings the flavours together and adds a silky lusciousness to the beans.
Serves 6 to 8
Vegan and gluten free
450g (1 pound) dried white beans such as navy or cannellini
2 tablespoons white (shiro) miso paste
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 to 2 tablespoons chili crisp/oil
extra virgin olive oil
Broth Seasonings
2 bay leaves (dried or fresh)
1 to 2 carrots, thinly sliced crosswise
1/2 to 1 onion or shallot (eschalot)
1 head garlic, halved crosswise, loose skin discarded
4 to 6 dried shiitake mushrooms (or other dried mushrooms)
1 to 2 sticks celery, thinly sliced
1 to 2 sprigs of thyme or rosemary
Miso-Buttter Shiitake Mushrooms (optional)
2 tablespoons vegan or dairy butter (salted or unsalted)
1 tablespoon white (shiro) miso paste
Substitutes:
Chili crisp/oil: gochujang, sriracha, sambal oelek
Miso paste: tahini, smooth peanut butter or other nut butter such as cashew
Carrot: butternut, parsnip, sweet potato
Place dried beans into a large pot. Pick over the beans and remove any debris. Cover with at least 1-inch / 2-3cm of water. Cover the pot and place on medium high heat and bring to the boil. Cook for 5 minutes and then turn off the heat. Let it sit for 20 to 30 minutes. I call this method a quick-soak.
After this resting time, top the beans with more water, enough to cover the beans by 2-inches (5cm). Add 2 big pinches of salt, along with the broth seasonings - bay leaves, carrot, onion or shallot (eschalot), garlic, dried shiitake, celery and thyme or rosemary.
Place the beans on medium high heat and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and cook until the beans are tender - this can range from 45 to 60 minutes, depending upon the freshness of your beans. When the beans are soft, uncover and scoop out and discard the herbs, bay leaves, onion and skin of the garlic (leave the cloves). Remove the mushrooms and set aside to cool.
Stir well to break up the carrots, celery and garlic - they will melt away and combine with the liquid to thicken up the broth. Stir in miso paste, soy sauce, chili crisp/oil or gochujang and a few glugs of olive oil. Stir to combine. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
If you are making the miso-butter shiitake mushrooms, squeeze the shiitake mushroom to remove any excess moisture. Thinly slice them. Heat a medium skillet/frying pan on medium high. When it is hot, add 1 tablespoon of butter along with the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and toss until they are starting to caramelize around the edges, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the miso paste and remaining 1 tablespoon of butter, and stir well to encourage the miso to soften and coat the mushrooms. Turn off the heat.
To serve, ladle the beans into a serving bowl, top with a few of the shiitake mushrooms, and scatter over the chives. Drizzle with olive oil, season with pepper and serve.
Storage: These beans will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Io Vegetables, With Love is dedicated to vegetables and it is a joy to bring you a new recipe every week. Thank you to everyone who subscribes, especially to paid subscribers who make this work possible.
This sounds delicious! And I have just the necessary ingredients at home!
As for a glut of carrots, my favourite recipe to make is Turkish carrot “salad”. It’s sort of tzatziki meets carrot slaw - you mix grated carrots that have been sauteed in olive oil and garlic until tender into Greek yoghurt and season with salt and pepper. Simple yet really delicious.
This looks perfect!!