This simple and smoky white beans tapas dish comes together with a few essential ingredients I think everyone should have on hand at all times: garlic, onions, tomato paste, smoked paprika and anchovies.
I’ve always loved the idea of tapas, and a trip to Spain two years ago truly solidified my love for these simple and easy small dishes. Much like Italian cooking, Spanish cooking excels at taking a few simple yet ultra flavor packed ingredients and turning them into a rich and deeply flavored dish. These smoky white beans are the epitome of that sentiment: 6 basic ingredients that come together to form a deeply flavored and yet deceptively simple meal. And the best part is that most of you may already have these ingredients sitting in your pantry.
One thing I’ve been challenging myself to do in our crazy current world is to make awesome meals from only ingredients that I already have on hand. It’s a great way to use up things that you completely forgot were sitting in the back of your pantry, but also perfect for those days that you have nothing homemade to eat and are doing your best to avoid trips to the grocery store. And two of my absolute favorite pantry essentials are beans and anchovies. I know some of you are grossed out at this point, but these ultra salty tiny fish are super flavor packed, shelf safe for years, and in my dad’s family we happen to be slightly obsessed with them (see: Joe’s anchovy pizza recipe). Feel free to leave the anchovies out if you’re a vegetarian (hi Nicole!) or have (as some do) and extreme aversion to them, but I happen to think they lend a deep flavor to so many dishes that can’t quite be recreated in any other way.
These white beans come together with only a few other pantry staples – any good Italian knows to always have garlic, onion and tomato paste on hand – and get their smoky kick from Spanish smoked paprika. I love them for breakfast or a light lunch, but they work perfectly as a side for a main dish as well.
- 1 can white beans, such as cannellini beans
- ½ small onion, diced
- 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 anchovy filets (can be left out for vegetarian version)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- ½ tablespoon smoked paprika
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper
- fresh parsley and chives
- Bread or pita chips for serving
- Over medium heat, saute onion, garlic, and anchovy filets in the olive oil, stirring to break up the anchovies, until softened and browned, about 7 minutes. Add the smoked paprika and tomato paste, stirring to combine, and cook another 3 minutes.
- Drain half the liquid from the beans, leaving some to create a sauce. Add the beans to the pan and stir to combine. Cook until beans are heated through, 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley and chives. Serve with crush bread or pita chips.
I totally respect the aleech! The Roman army lived on anchovy paste for months while battling. It is power food and so tasty too.