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Fasioi in tocio (“beans in their sauce”)
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Fasioi in tocio (“beans in their sauce”)

Servings

4

servings
Bean soaking and prep time

13

minutes
Cooking time

20

minutes

A budget-friendly-simple-but-delicious Venetian side dish made with beans, butter, onion, a pinch of plain flour, salt and pepper. This quick and easy recipe takes just over 20 minutes to make (plus beans soaking and cooking time, if using dried beans, which we recommend) and goes with almost anything!

Ingredients

  • 400g dried borlotti beans (or a mix of borlotti and cannellini beans)

  • Bunch of fresh rosemary, thyme and 2 bay leaves

  • 50g unsalted butter

  • 1 large onion, finely sliced

  • 1tsp plain flour

  • Salt

  • Pepper

Directions

  • Soak the beans overnight in plenty of water.
  • Drain, rinse, then place them in a pan covered with water (at least 1 inch above the level of beans), a pinch of salt, a bunch of fresh rosemary, thyme and 2 bay leaves.
  • Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, then simmer for approx 1h / 1h 15m until the beans are tender but not too soft. Drain, but reserve 100ml of their cooking liquid.
  • In a large frying pan, melt the butter, then add the sliced onion and allow to sizzle as it cooks. After about 10 minutes, the onions will become almost translucent.
  • Add the flour to the pan, and stir well, coating all of the onions. Cook for a minute then add the beans alongside the reserved cooking liquid, salt and pepper to taste.
  • Stir and cook on a low-medium heat for 15 mins, until the liquid is almost completely gone and you’ve achieved a creamy consistency.
  • Serve warm as a side dish, with nice crusty bread to mop up the juices.

Notes

  • In Venice, this recipe would be made using only borlotti beans. Borlotti have a thicker skin and are very popular throughout the Mediterranean region. The best bean to use is Lamon from Belluno in the Veneto region, with variegated, pinkish red splodges on white. However, in this recipe we mixed them with cannellini beans, to give this ‘stew’ an even creamier texture.
  • Traditionally served with grilled sausages and a sprig of rosemary on top.