In my mother’s hometown in Epirus they are used to making a lot of dishes with spring onions and spinach and other herbs. Their cuisine has a lot of pies, the queen of which is the spinach pie, therefore they make a bunch of foods using greens: pies, roasted lamp or chicken, beans and so on.
Last time I had this dish was a few years ago in a village called Vovousa. The cook was an old lady owning the village’s tavern. She made very few dishes to accommodate her household and a few tourists like us. And each and every one of her dishes was a magic combination of talent and pure ingredients. So, here is my version of green butter beans.
Ingredients: 200 gr dried butter beans soaked in water overnight, 3-4 chopped spring onions, 3 onions chopped, 2tbsp of chopped parsley, a cap of chopped greens mixture I keep in my freezer (spinach, fennel, chervil, hartworts or you can just put spinach), 1 cap of olive oil, salt and pepper (I just put pepper due to dietary restrictions), 2-3 slices of chili pepper (I put just a little but you can put as much as you can bear), 1 vegetables stock cube unsalted
The outcome of this food is the sweetest butter beans you have ever tasted!
Soak your butter beans in water overnight or for about seven to eight hours. In a deep pot place your butter beans and 1.5ltr of cold water and let them boil for at least 20’ in medium fire. Don’t put any salt at this point. Drain your butter beans and leave them on the side.
Pour your olive oil and the onions and spring onions in the same pot and let them wither while tossing. Add your butter beans and about 0.5ltr of hot water. Let them simmer in a low fire for 1 hour while randomly tossing. At the middle of the simmering time, add the greens, the chili pepper and the parsley and continue tossing regularly. Towards the end and after you have tasted that the butter beans are edible, add salt and pepper.
I escorted these with some rice, but they are also escorted with a nice cheese or some sour vegetables or olives. They are also eaten at room temperature – no need for them to be hot. Enjoy!
