Recently I’ve been on a bit of a spring-cleaning kick in my pantry. You know how it goes...cans get shoved to the back, forgotten about, and then suddenly they’ve expired and they're headed for the trash. With grocery prices creeping up, I’m trying to be mindful about using what I already have before it gets bad.
The other night, I took stock and found a couple cans of beans (black and cannellini) and a can of tomato paste in the pantry, and in the fridge, a half a carton of chicken broth and a container of burrata cheese. That little lineup ended up inspiring dinner. I loosely followed Ali Slagle’s Cheesy White Bean Tomato Bake from NYT Cooking, but made a few swaps and added my own spins, including sautéed onions and chopped collard greens.
There have been times when my husband gives me the side-eye that says, "Really? That's for dinner?" I thought this might be one of those nights but nope...he liked it!
Cheesy White Bean Tomato Bake
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 fat garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons tomato paste (I used the whole can)
2 (15-ounce) cans white beans (such as cannellini or Great Northern...black beans were fine)
½ cup boiling water (chicken broth was tasty and I added more to make a generous sauce for the beans)
Salt and black pepper
⅓ pound mozzarella, coarsely grated (about 1⅓ cups) (I chunked the whole ball of burrata and used it all)
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.
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.
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