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Fagioli all’uccelletto (Beans bird style)

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An old-style way to cook delicious beans for a side dish in an Italian feast. My recipe is adapted from Pellegrino Artusi’s La Scienza in Cucina e L’Arte de Mangiar Bene (The Science of Cooking and the Art of Eating Well, 1891). If you really want to go crazy deep into Italian foodways, Artusi is a key book to have. I got mine on one of my many visits to Rome, where I found a reprint sponsored by Slow Food at Eataly. It’s in old-fashioned Italian, so it’s slow going for me, but it is a wonderful source for traditional Italian recipes.

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Fagioli all’uccelletto (Beans bird style)

Recipe by Chuck Cushman
Servings

8

servings
Prep time

20

minutes
Cooking time

4

hours 

20

minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. cranberry or Borlotti beans, dried (or 2 cans of them – it will still be good and it will be faster)

  • 2-3 bay leaves

  • 2-3 Tbsp. Olive oil

  • bunch sage leaves

  • q.b. salt and pepper

  • 1/2 small onion, diced

  • 1 cup tomato passata

Directions

  • Cook the beans: I use an InstantPot, putting the beans and 2-3 bay leaves in and covering by 3 inches or so of water. Cook the beans for 40 minutes at High pressure, and let the pressure off naturally. Drain the beans and reserve.
  • In a small sauce pan, sauté the onion in a small amount of olive oil. Add the passata, stir to combine, and let it cook for 10 minutes or so. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper and reserve.
  • 3 In a sauce pan that can hold all the beans, put 2-3 Tbsp. olive oil and heat over medium high until it shimmers. Toss in the sage and fry for a few seconds.
  • 4 Add the beans and toss to coast in the sage-infused oil. Then pour the tomato sauce in, too, and stir to combine. Cook for 10 minutes and serve, topped with a glug of fresh olive oil on top.

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