tuna confit, continued

So, in the last post, I told you about how to make this delicious tuna confit, and the things you can do with it. I referred to the pasta I was going to make, and now, it has been done. So, while I almost never print posts that call for you to have read another one as a prerequisite, you do need the prior one, to get this one.

You have that tuna confit, and now, we turn to one of Annalena's favorite ingredients, fresh shell beans.

I have written about these before, mostly in the context of soup. And they are wonderful in soup. Creamy, fresh tasting, and somewhere in between a green bean and a dried bean. But they are wonderful as themselves too. Right now, the only ones that are available are the most popular ones: cranberry beans (if you grew up in an Italian home, you now them as borlottis. There is a Spanish name for them too, which I am forgetting at this time. If you are familiar with Spanish food, however, you'll know the ones I mean. ).

When you buy these guys, they look unpromising. They have torn, dried pods, and they look like something someone forgot. So does Annalena at times. That doesn't make her any less tasty.

Ok, enough of that. This is how you want them. It will make them much easier to shell because, let me tell you, trying to shell beans that are too moist is not easy on your fingers or your patience. Get enough of them to get about a heaping cup of fresh beans. That will probably be about a pound. If you can budget for more, space and money wise, do so. Shuck/peel/shell them, however you call it. Check out how the colors red and white can exist in so many different variations. Then get over your sentimentality, and cook them. How? Ok, easy. Get a pot of water to a rolling boil and salt it well. Toss in the beans. Lower the heat, and let them cook for about twenty minutes, until they are "al dente," or at a texture you like. There is no right or wrong about this one. Drain them, and immediately pour some olive oil on the drained, hot beans, and some kind of acid. I happen to like lemon juice, but "pick your poison" here. Meanwhile, get the tuna out of its oil, and break it up into small bits. Combine it with the beans. If you like (and you will), half about a cup of cherry tomatoes into this as well. Don't cook them, just stir them in.

If you didn't want the pasta, you now have a wonderful side dish. Trust Annalena, though, you want the pasta. Boil up about half a pound of fresh, stubby pasta: elbows, farfalle, rigatoni, something like that. Again, do this to your degree of preferred doneness. Drain the pasta, combine it with the bean/tuna/tomato mixture, stir it all together, and then pour in just a smidge of that tuna oil. If you like, you can stir in the fresh herb of your choice. And you have a wonderful meal, that is a bit off the beaten track, but won't taste that way.

This one is really, REALLY good. Give it a try. And treat it as an object lesson: if you have a "staple" in the fridge, like the tuna (you could do the beans ahead of time, too), look at the miraculous half hour meal you can come up with.