I just chanced upon a great snack that can also serve as hors d'oeuvres, is super healthy for you, and costs less than 2 bucks. But you have to act quickly because the main ingredient will only be with us for another couple of months.

What I'm talking about here are cranberry beans. Those speckled magenta and white pods with beans that look like colorful pebbles you might find in a river. Cranberry beans have a wonderful creamy flavor that some liken to a chestnut. Often referred to as barlotti beans, they are a part of every Italian grandmother's fall repertoire of cooking. My own grandmother loved to toss them into salads or serve with pasta. I, however, have stumbled upon something a little different to do with them.

I recently bought a big bag of cranberry beans, thinking I would cook them up as part of a week-day meal. But after a hectic week, followed by an even crazier weekend, I found those beans still sitting in their bag in my refrigerator on Monday afternoon (Labor Day). With friends arriving in a half hour, I realized I had completely forgotten to buy anything to serve as a snack while my fellow Sicilian friend Christina and I cooked together. And so I started shucking.

Now shucking (or shelling) cranberry beans is not difficult work, but it does take about five minutes. Usually my kids are only too happy to pry open the pods and pop out the beans for me, as it’s sort of fun if you’re a kid and avoiding homework. But with their friends about to arrive for our Labor Day dinner, they were too excited to sit and toil over a bag of beans and so the task fell to me. Sitting at my kitchen counter, I twisted the pods and extracted the beans while listening to Louis Prima sing Angelina -- "Oh Mama… Zooma zooma baccala..!" in the background; it was the most peaceful part of my day.

Still without a plan for my bowl of white and magenta barlottis, I decided to simmer them in salted water until al dente, after which they sat in a colander, forgotten on the counter for about a half hour. Once I rediscovered them, they were mostly dried. I decided the quickest and most hassle-free way to deal with them would be to toss them into a pan of hot olive oil and then sprinkle with sea salt. I had been lucky enough to snack on something similar years ago in a little Italian restaurant and was inspired to try to mimic the recipe. After crisping up the outer skins, I generously seasoned and they were good to go. Salty with a mild crunch on the outside and a buttery texture within, they were perfect for munching with our Pimms cups.

I love a good snack, especially if it's easy to make, nutritious and inexpensive. Pass the barlotti.

Fried Cranberry Beans

Makes: 2 cups

Ingredients:
2 cups shelled beans
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Kosher or sea salt to taste

Preparation:
1. Simmer shelled beans in hot salted water for about 10 minutes or until al dente.
2. Let beans drain in a colander and then pat them dry so they are no longer moist. This is an important step as damp beans won't crisp up in the oil.
3. Heat a large pan (not nonstick) until it's nice and hot.
4. Drizzle in the olive oil so you coat the pan's bottom and then toss in the beans.
5. Stir until the beans are crispy with a crackled exterior.
6. Season with salt to taste and serve.

Tips for shelling beans:
There are a few different ways to shell beans. I like to twist the pod so the middle pops open. You can then just separate the folds of the pod and remove the beans.

Note: Check out a similar recipe posted by Cucina Testa Rossa in 2005 on Bay Area Bites. Her cooking technique and execution are a little different, but cranberry beans are so delicious it's worth trying both recipes. Manga!

Every summer I spend way too much money on cranberry beans. If you know me, you might also know that they are my hands-down, number one, absolute favorite bean. I would even go a step further and extend that statement to the entire legume family.

What are cranberry beans you ask? Well, they are not cranberries, nor beans crossed with cranberries, or even sweet or tart, or really very red. The pods are kind of mottled with a cranberry color, which is I suppose where the name comes from? Beats me. Anyway, they are shell beans, just like cannelloni, flageolet, or pintos. They grow in a pod, and you can buy them fresh or dried, but like most things, you can't beat the fresh version (however, if you do buy dried I highly recommend the excellent Rancho Gordo beans).

They taste incredible: smooth, velvety, creamy, and plump. And they are perfect in nearly any brothy soup. I often use them to make pasta e fagioli or a simple vegetable, farro, and cranberry bean soup. You can cook them with some pancetta and onion and toss them with pasta to make a simple and delicious sauce.

The freshies have a fleeting season--in the Bay Area you can find them in late summer at the farmers' market. And one thing that I've discovered about cranberry beans, is that they freeze remarkably well. So I've been known to buy very large bags of beans, and spend a pretty penny on them too, which brings me full circle.

When my mother announced recently that she was growing cranberry beans in her garden, not only was I jealous but also determined to find a way to grow them myself. Which actually turned out to be incredibly easy. All you need to grow beans are some dried beans, soil and a few little pots. I felt like I was back in elementary school, poking seeds into soil-packed egg cartons, watering them religiously, keeping them warm. Anyway, last weekend I planted them, and they are already 6 inches tall!

Here's how you do it...

Grow Some Beans

Ingredients:
1 small pot for every coupla beans you want to plant (little seedling pots or even an egg carton works fine, but if you use the carton only use one bean per cup)
Some good potting soil
2 dried beans (of your choice, but I recommend the cranberry!) per pot
Water
Plastic wrap
A cake pan or small rimmed tray that will hold all your pots
A warm sunny spot

Preparation:
1. Fill each pot with potting soil.

2. Press a couple of beans just under the surface of the soil, about 1/2-inch down. Water the soil well, and let drain.

3. Set the pots in the pan or tray and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Set the pots in a warm sunny spot.

4. Water the beans every day and keep checking them. When they start to pop up you can remove the plastic wrap and let them go! Let them grow to about 6–8 inches and then re-pot them into a bigger pot, such as a soil-filled half wine barrel (I haven't gotten to that part yet).

Good luck and happy gardening!

An update on my tomatoes: They are growing like mad! The Early Girls are taking the lead, but I have to say the Sweet 100s aren't far behind. They are all doing relatively well, but I seem to have a little tiny itsy-bitsy white bug problem. Not aphids, cause I've been flicking those off my beans. Any suggestions?

It's that time of year again, the days start to get shorter, the sun no longer wakes me up before my alarm clock (now I actually have to start setting my alarm clock), and I must begin to convince myself that summer is on the way out. In fact, there is a distinct chill in the air, if only to remind me. Sigh. The weather is still nice. But the nice man at Frog Hollow told me we'd be lucky to have even another week of peaches (as I quickly add more to my shopping bag). I can't even find corn anymore. Cherries are sooooo last season. Strawberries are few and far between and I've heard they are not long for these parts. And tomatoes. Oh tomatoes. They are still here, and delicious as ever, but I know my time with them is limited. I am buying them almost on a daily basis now. They are part of nearly every meal I prepare.

But even though I am lamenting summer's dwindling bounty, a whole new crop of food is peaking and autumn treats are appearing. One of my favorites has appeared recently, my late-summer love The Cranberry Bean.

Those of us who know them tend to horde them. I see the occasional stuffed plastic bag with the tell-tale mottled pinky-red pods, firmly grasped in hand. Standing at the bin, I load up my bag as full as possible (knowing full well I'm going to have to lug it on Muni all the way home). But cranberry beans have such a limited season, it's worth it to buy all that you can. They are not only the most brilliant delicious creamy wonderful fresh legume on the planet (in my oh-so-humble opinion) but they freeze extremely well.

I really shouldn't be telling you all of this.

But really they are so good that you should know about them. Creamy, plump, and full of fresh bean flavor.

And there are all kinds of ways to use them: simply boiled and dressed as Cucina Testa Rossa describes in her previous post from last September, tossed with pasta, drizzled with vinaigrette in a salad, or my hands-down favorite, a big steaming bowl of Pasta e Fagioli. This hearty bean, pasta, and vegetable soup is the perfect antidote to a rainy end-of-summer night. It almost makes you happy that winter is right around the corner.

Pasta e Fagioli

2 slices thick-cut smoked bacon (like applewood smoked) or pancetta, chopped
Olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup diced fresh tomatoes, peeled and seeded or 1 (regular size) can finely chopped tomatoes
About 4-6 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade
About 1 1/2 cups fresh cranberry beans, removed from pods (this equals approximately 1 lb unshelled beans in their pod)
Parmesan rind (Note: if you buy a chunk of fresh Parmesan, just cut off the rind and throw it into the soup while it's cooking)
About 1 cup small soup pasta, like ditalini or macaroni

To garnish
Fresh chopped basil
Grated Parmesan cheese

Cook the bacon in a stock pot until crisp, then remove to a plate and set aside. You can pour out the grease, but leave at least 1-2 tablespoons. Add olive oil if needed, then saute the onions, carrots, and celery until just tender. Season with salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes, broth, cranberry beans, and the Parmesan rind, if using. Simmer until the beans are tender, about an hour (give or take, it really depends on the freshness of your beans; start tasting them after about 45 minutes; you want them creamy but not mushy) . Add the pasta and cook just until al dente, about 7 minutes. Add the reserved bacon back to the soup. Serve with grated Parmesan and fresh basil.

Skulking around the stalls of my farmers market the other day, these Cranberry Beans immediately caught my eye. Haricots Écossés (pronounced air-ee-koe ay-koe-say) literally translates to Beans Shelled or Shelled Beans, as we'd say, which is one of the more staid names for this beautiful bean, though it must be shelled to be eaten so some practicality thrown in there.

I was expecting it to find it hailed from some exotic locale high in the Andes or on an uninhabited island off Madagascar but no, it's grown in the good ol' USA and Canada. Some other monikers include borlotti bean, saluggia, crab eye bean, rosecoco bean, fagioli romano, October bean, and ironically French Horticultural bean. It is of the Phaseolus Vulgaris (sounds like my last French boyfriend) variety and is related to the tongues of fire bean! Now that's a name!

So now that we've dispensed with the formalities, let's get down to business. Just what is this whimsical bean with the delightful red spots? It's a bean, a legume, akin to the kidney or pinto bean known for its creamy texture and chestnut flavor which is why it is popular in stews and soups. They begin to decorate their vines in late summer as the harvest of string beans fades.

Prolific in Spanish and Portuguese cuisine, they are also a popular first course in Northern Italy simply cooked and served with a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, and a twist of the pepper grinder. Or with a chunk of good crusty bread and a salad they can make a meal of themselves.

So how do you actually cook these lovely legumes? Rather daunting when they are rock hard and could put an eye our if mishandled. The standard method if you have dried cranberry (or other) beans is to first soak them in cold water overnight or at least 12 hours. Drain the water, a few times if you can, and cover with fresh cold water. Bring the water to a boil for 3 minutes, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for approximately 45 minutes, or until tender. 1 cup of dried beans should give you about 3 cups of cooked beans.

If you are given a last minute head up that guests are arriving for dinner that evening, here is the quick soak way: Add beans to a pot of boiling water and boil for 2 minutes. Do not add salt. Remove pot from heat and cover and soak for about 4 hours. Drain the water, add fresh cold water and simmer until tender, as above.

Fresh beans are of course exponentially easier and faster and here is one of my favorite way to prepare it.

Cranberry Beans

- 3 cups shelled fresh Cranberry Beans
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- fresh thyme sprigs or dried thyme in a pinch
- ¼ lemon
- a few sprigs worth of fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped

1. In a pot, combine beans, olive oil, herbs and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil.
NOTE: Please do not add salt until the beans are thoroughly cooked, it will make the skins tough.
2. Reduce heat to low. Cover and cook until beans are tender, anywhere from 20-30 minutes.
3. Remove lid and let cool to warm. Drain beans from water and herbs.
4. Toss beans in olive oil, a grind of salt & pepper, squeeze of lemon, and chopped parsley
5. Serve with a chunk of bread and/or a green salad.

Last night I was particularly sluggish and not terribly hungry so I simply sautéed a cup of fresh cranberry beans in olive oil and dried thyme for a few minutes, added ½ cup water, covered and cooked on low for about 10-15 minutes, tossing the beans every few minutes. A grind of salt & pepper, squeeze of lemon, et voila. A great light evening treat. Bon appetit!