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Dietary key
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V
Vegetarian
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V*
Vegetarian Option
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Ve
Vegan
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Ve*
Vegan Option
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G
Gluten-Free
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G*
Gluten-Free Option
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Dairy-Free
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D*
Dairy-Free Option
Butter Beans with Ricotta, Lemon + Basil Pesto
This can be served as a speedy weeknight dinner with a fresh side salad, or topped with some roasted toms for a burst of sweetness and colour. If wild garlic is in season, swap the garlic clove for a bunch of wild garlic leaves.
The beans can be served either hot or cold - making it ideal for all seasons!
Check out our Top 10 Butter Bean Recipes if you loved this one!
Ingredients
A large bunch of fresh basil (roughly 30g)
A good handful of pine nuts
1 garlic clove, crushed
25 g parmesan cheese, grated (or vegan alternative)
4-5 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to serve
1 jar of Queen Butter Beans - half of the liquid from the jar
250g ricotta cheese, or vegan alternative (refrigerated)
Zest of 2 lemons, plsu wedges to serve
Serving suggestionsCrusty bread
SubstitutionsGarlic clove - a small bunch of wild garlic (when in season)
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Directions
Toast the pine nuts in a large, dry pan (big enough to cook the beans in) set over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes until just golden, shaking the pan often to stop the nuts from burning.
Add the nuts, basil, garlic, grated parmesan, pinch of salt and black pepper and the olive oil to a blender or food processor and blitz until you reach an oozy, pesto-like consistency; you may need to add more oil to bind the mixture together. (Equally, if you can’t be bothered, you could just buy ready-made pesto: it still makes a delicious dish!)
Next, prepare the butter beans. In winter, we like serving this as a brothy bean base, so we recommend saving some of the bean stock and warming through with the beans in a pan for about 3 minutes. For summer, we like it lighter, so simply drain and rinse the beans and don’t bother to warm it through.
Spoon the beans on to your serving plate and dollop over the ricotta. Drizzle over the pesto and scatter over the lemon zest, plus a small squeeze of the juice if you like a real zing! Finish with some cracked black pepper and a final drizzle of olive oil.
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