recipe: beans with sage and millet (fagioli alla salvia col miglio)

Beans with sage and millet

by Simona Carini

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes + time to cook bean

Keywords: gluten-free vegetarian beans millet

Ingredients (serves 4)

For the beans

• Half a cup of beans of choice (for ex., cannellini, canario, speckled bayo)
• 2 cups water
• Half of a small onion (or a quarter of a medium one), halved
• A bay leaf
• A small clove of garlic, sliced
• A couple of sprigs of fresh parsley

For the millet

• 1/4 cup hulled millet
• 1/2 cup water

To finish

• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• A small onion or a shallot, finely chopped
• A large clove of garlic, thinly sliced (2 if small)
• 3-4 leaves of fresh sage, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup kale blossoms, optional (but recommended, both as a color and as a texture accent)
• Sea salt and freshly milled black pepper, to taste

Instructions

How to cook dry beans

After soaking the beans for several hours or overnight, empty the whole bowl into a saucepan and add all the aromatics.

Bring the water to a lively boil quickly, and keep it there for five minutes, then turn down the heat and let the beans simmer, covered, until they are ready. How long this takes depends on the type of beans and their freshness. Let them cool in their broth, then remove the aromatics and discard them. Let the beans rest in their cooking broth until ready to use.

How to cook millet

Warm up a skillet on medium heat, then add the millet and toast for a few minutes, stirring constantly to prevent burning. You will hear the millet pop.

Take millet off the heat and pour into a pan with water. Bring to a boil and cook, covered, for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat but keep the lid on for another 5 minutes. Add a pinch of sea salt and fluff with a fork.

Final preparation

You can prepare beans and millet ahead. The final assembly takes a short time, which makes this dish ideal for a quick lunch or dinner.

Warm up the olive oil in a saucepan, then add the onion and stir well. After a couple of minutes, add the garlic and sage and stir. After a couple more minutes, add the kale blossoms, if using. Let cook over gentle heat until the onion is translucent. Add the cooked beans with their cooking liquid and bring to a boil. Simmer for a couple of minutes to blend the flavors. Add the cooked millet and stir well. Make sure everything is nice and hot, then adjust salt and pepper, give a good final stir, take the pan off the heat and serve immediately.

---

Go to the full post on fagioli alla salvia col miglio / beans with sage and millet