Cheesy White Bean-Tomato Bake
Published March 18, 2023
John Kernick for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
- Total Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 fat garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 (15-ounce) cans white beans (such as cannellini or Great Northern) or chickpeas, drained and rinsed
½ cup boiling water
Salt and black pepper
⅓ pound mozzarella, coarsely grated (about 1 ⅓ cups)
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
50 grams carbs; 29 milligrams cholesterol; 489 calories; 12 grams monosaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 7 grams saturated fat; 22 grams fat; 11 grams fiber; 1001 milligrams sodium; 24 grams protein; 2 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 475 degrees. In a 10-inch ovenproof skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high. Fry the garlic until it’s lightly golden, about 1 minute. Stir in the tomato paste (be careful of splattering) and fry for 30 seconds, reducing the heat as needed to prevent the garlic from burning.
- Step 2
Add the beans, water and generous pinches of salt and pepper and stir to combine. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top, then bake until the cheese has melted and browned in spots, 5 to 10 minutes. If the top is not as toasted as you’d like, run the skillet under the broiler for a minute or 2. Serve at once.
Private Notes
Comments
It’s so worth it in a recipe where beans are the major ingredient, to use dried beans instead of canned one. Dried beans have a lovely firm texture and great taste. Buy some dried beans, rinse and dump what you need for your recipe into big saucepan of cold water and let sit overnight. Drain the water, add fresh water and simmer until tender. If you find you have a few too many cooked beans, you can freeze the extra in baggies to add to soups, chili etc.
I doubled the tomato paste and garlic and added a chopped yellow onion, drained/chopped San Marzano tomatoes, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Delicious!
Would recommend upping the amount of tomato paste slightly to enhance the flavor!
This was very good. I did feel that it needed a brightness at the end as the mozz was a little too mellow for me. I added fresh rosemary and it was WOW! Other ideas to give it some oomph would be crushed red pepper or another cheese with some zing. Maybe asiago along with the mozz? L 565 • Reply Share 2 replies Susan Weiss 8 years ago And Fontana instead of the mozz. L67 • Reply Share D. Ward last month @Susan Weiss add finely grated lemon zest to the mix before baking. Adds amazing flavor. Learned from Heidi Swanson's stuffed shells on 101 cookbo • Add a Comment
I added some tweaks I think really raised the bar on this wonderful dish. I added some pinches of rosemary, and I used the whole small can of tomato paste, because what are you going to do with a couple of leftover tablespoons of tomato paste? I increased the boiling water and added a few more ounces of hot water until it looked right. For the cheese, I used mozzarella and then I added a handful of shredded cheese from a packageI found at Trader Joe’s of Gruyère and Swiss cheese and the flavor was amazing. I toasted half slices of sourdough and we ate it right out of the pan with a salad looking at each other the whole time with glee. This is so simple and so delicious. It comes together in 15 minutes. The cast-iron skillet definitely makes the dish what it is. We love this delicious dish!
After reading the comments, I started by sautéing an onion, then garlic and tomato paste. Added oregano and Maras pepper with the salt and black pepper. Added a package of thawed frozen chopped spinach with the white beans.Stirred in 1/2 c grated Parmesan and topped with plenty of Gouda before broiling. Fantastic!