Some time ago I clipped a little note about eating more beans. I’d already worked out that new beans cook faster than old ones. It seems so obvious now, but it wasn’t then. I throw beans away if they’re more than a year old, and I should probably move faster than that. But this note, it offered a handful of uses of white beans as an example of the versatility of beans. Stir them with fresh sage, garlic and olive oil! Puree with a potato or two and plenty of garlic! Make minestrone or fagiole! The clipping even suggests sardines, which actually is probably pretty good, too. But it is no secret that white beans go well with garlic. They make a nice hummus, too.

I knew all that. What I want is the black bean version of that note. The black eyed peas version of that note. I don’t need more ways to eat white beans with garlic. I know that works.

So these corkscrews with white beans aren’t news, but they did come out pretty good:

The splendid table recipe  … I can’t tell if it is too complicated or if it is just that my head explodes a little when recipes call for you to use a wooden spatula. You can use a metal spatula or a wooden spoon. It will still work.

Slice and saute half a red onion (or one small one, which we have) and sprinkle with black pepper. Add six large cloves of garlic, one tablespoon tomato paste, three tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley (I think you could reinterpret the parsley as spinach or kale and use half a cup), half a teaspoon of chile vinegar or tabasco (which we don’t have–we used 1/2 t cider vinegar and 1/4 t ground chiles), and 2/3 cup water.

Cook that until the water has mostly evaporated. Fold in 2 cups white beans (or two cans, rinsed), cook for a few minutes.

Cook a half pound of pasta al dente. Before you drain it, reserve a cup of starchy pasta water.

Don’t oil the pasta (they talked about this on the radio).

Add the reserved cup of starchy pasta water to the sauce, cook it for a minute and then add the pasta to the pan, and fold in 1/2 cup of grated romano.

The thing we agreed is that you could add in some substantial greens. Kale, chard or spinach or something.