Creamy cheesy butter beans with Parmesan crumb
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 10 to 30 mins
- Serve
- Serves 4–6
These versatile creamy butter beans are great for batch cooking. Serve with crusty bread or pile on top of toast for a hearty dinner or lunch.
By Verity Genco
Ingredients
For the Parmesan crumb
- 60g/2¼oz day-old white bread, torn into pieces
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 20g/¾oz Parmesan (or vegetarian alternative), finely grated
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the butter beans
- 2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 800g/1lb 12oz giant butter beans, drained and rinsed (see tip)
- 200ml/7fl oz vegetable stock
- 70g/2½oz mature cheddar, coarsely grated
- 150g/5½oz fresh baby spinach
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
To make the Parmesan crumb, place the bread in a food processor and pulse into coarse breadcrumbs.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring regularly, until golden and crisp.
Transfer to a bowl, stir in the Parmesan and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
To make the butter beans, wipe out the pan, pour in the oil and place over a medium heat. Add the garlic and cook gently for 2–3 minutes until fragrant but not browned (turn down the heat if it starts to colour).
Add half of the butter beans and stir to coat in the garlic oil. Pour in the stock and warm through.
Lightly mash the beans with a spoon or potato masher, leaving some texture.
Stir in the cheddar until melted and creamy.
Reduce the heat to low, add the spinach and cook until wilted.
Add the remaining butter beans and cook for a few more minutes until heated through. Season with salt and pepper.
To serve, drizzle with a little olive oil and scatter over the Parmesan crumb. Serve warm, perhaps with bread for dipping.
Recipe tips
Giant butter beans come in jars, and are sometimes sold as 'queen butter beans' (in fact, they aren't butter beans at all, but Piekny Jas beans). Although slightly different, regular tinned butter beans would work well in this recipe, too.
Swap out the Parmesan for a vegetarian Italian-style hard cheese to make this meal veggie.
