This is one of the simplest, most delicious side dishes that you can get your hands on. You can blitz it into a smooth and elegant purée or you can leave it slightly chunky as above. It requires very few ingredients and less than 5 minutes of attention. I like to serve it with pork chops but it is also delicious with lamb. Or, if no one is around to see, straight out of the pan by the spoonful.
3 cans of cannellini beans, drained (seems like a lot but won't be, I promise)
2 sprigs of rosemary
1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
2 Tbsps of butter or, if you are lucky enough to have some, duck fat
Salt
Put the butter, rosemary and garlic in a saucepan over very low heat. Allow the flavors of the rosemary and the garlic to infuse the butter as it melts.
Adjust the heat to medium. Tip in the beans and heat through, stirring from time to time to avoid them sticking to the bottom of the pan.
As soon as the beans have started to bubble around the edges, remove the garlic and the rosemary. Either whiz to silky smoothness or mash roughly with a potato masher.
Right before serving, stir in about a tablespoon of the pan juices from your meat and salt, just a tiny bit more than you usually would salt a dish. Beans can take this.
And there you have it.