IMBB Beans: Flageolet

I am a novice still when it comes to cooking beans -being a very recent bean convert- and I am skiing this weekend, so instead of doing anything beany-fancy, I am doing a very simple bean dish that is a favorite of mine: flageolet beans to serve with a roasted leg of lamb.

I wrote about the gigot d'agneau already, but not about the flageolet. These flageolets -in the prettiest shade of pale green- came from my friend Mr.Rancho Gordo, who sells his lovingly grown heirloom beans at the Ferry Plaza farmers market in San Francisco. The flageolets are very light tasting, and stay in shape beautifully even after cooking. They are the best accompaniment for a leg of lamb roasted with a mustard/garlic/rosemary rub because they absorb the lamb-y and mustard-y flavors from the lamb wonderfully.

Flageolet beans
1 pound dried flageolets, soaked in water for at least 1 hour and drained
4 cups of chicken stock
1/2 yellow onion, finely diced
4 springs of parsley
1 clove garlic, smashed
2 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste

1. In a two quart pot, sweat the onions (which means sauteed until translucent) in the olive oil, then add garlic, cook until they smell good
2. add the drained beans and the chicken stock, and bring to a boil
3. reduce the heat to a simmer for 2 hours (optional: soak in a hot tub to make the time fly by quicker)
4. separate the beans from the stock
5. reduce the stock until you have about one cup left, add salt to taste
6. return the reduced stock to the beans, stir well, serve

I serve these delicious beans right under the leg of lamb so that the juice from the lamb add even more flavors to the beans.