A Gift from the Garden

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greek beans recipe
Photo by Hank Shaw

It’s not often that I write of my garden any more. It’s gone as feral as I have, it’s hair wild and tossed as various volunteers wrestle with each other for light and air and water. Cardoons are king, a tuft of oregano clings to its corner, and wild arugula holds a beachhead in every free spot. A few stray salsify plants stand as islands in the fray. And, along one edge of the garden stands a windswept tepee of bamboo. On it twine the decaying remnants of runner beans.

White runner beans, so large they could stand in for the greatest bean of all, the Greek gigandes bean. While I love my tepary beans, tiny refugees from the Sonoran Desert, they are survivors in a harsh land. These giant runner beans, often an inch across or more, speak to be of plenty, of luxury, of peace.

And peace is what I’ve been settling into, after nearly seven months on the road. I am relearning how to putter, how to sit still. It has not been easy. I fidget constantly. I wonder if I will ever cater again? Will my book be judged a success? Where might I be able to pitch a story a magazine might like? Will I be given the privilege of writing a second book?

To break this tide of worry I often get out of my chair, stretch and walk away. Usually it is into the neglected places around my house, where wild plants and mushrooms await me. But sometimes it is just outside, into my back yard, where my feral garden lives its life without me. I took such a break two days ago, and there my beans lay dying. I felt one of the leathery pods. It was swollen inside, a good sign. I opened one and saw the beautiful white beans, plump and happy.

white runner beans
Photo by Hank Shaw

By some small miracle, I’d come into my garden to find my beans at precisely the moment they wanted to be picked. All were ripe, and only a few had passed their plumpness and edged into the hardness we all get as we age. Excited, I picked them all.

Beans are not a food we associate with urgency. Beans are stored wealth. They are an assurance that come winter cold, we will have something good to eat. But those of us who grow beans know otherwise. When they are picked at the proper time, as I was lucky enough to do, they are as full and as in their prime as an athlete, yet as supple as a dancer. This is fleeting moment to be celebrated.

A bowl of beans, cooked when they are at this mystical moment, is not poverty food. It is as rich and as soul satisfying as the richest haunch of meat, the most decadent of desserts. There is a moment in the movie “Big Night” where someone asks Primo the chef what is in the magic dish timpano. His answer: Everything that is good in life. Such as it is with this dish, which is not Italian, but Greek in origin. OK, maybe it doesn’t have everything that is good in life, but it does have much in it that hits high notes to balance the bass of the beans.

Roasted red peppers. Real Greek oregano, given to me by my friend Lexy, in Montana of all places. Red onions, a little vinegar and lots and lots of olive oil. Good olive oil, too. Enjoy this as a meal in itself more than a side dish. It is an excellent lunch, served at room temperature.

I know my garden will present me with other gifts in good time. Perhaps the cardoons will ready themselves before our weather heats up again. My sunchokes rest in their beds; I await rain to loosen them from the soil. And if not, soon enough the days will lengthen again and it will be time to plant onions and peas and  favas, my favorite bean of all.

Until then I will try to sit still. At least for a little while.

greek beans recipe
Photo by Hank Shaw

 

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About Hank Shaw

Hey there. Welcome to Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, the internet’s largest source of recipes and know-how for wild foods. I am a chef, author, and yes, hunter, angler, gardener, forager and cook. Follow me on Instagram and on Facebook.

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13 Comments

  1. I’ve been looking for a greek gigandes bean recipe without the tomato base and you seem to be the only one who does it the way I want it. I’m baking the beans as I type. I was just wondering what are the green veggies you have in your bean picture dish. I would love to put those in my bean dish as well. Thanks!

  2. I just discovered your site the other day looking for some venison ideas. You have so much great stuff here! Thanks for your hard work; your thoughtfulness and perspective are quite inspiring. For dinner tonight we had a meditation on your beans above. Garlic and homemade veal stock found their way i to the pot and the whole experience was a good reminder that we dont eat enough beans!

  3. Thanks for the great post from the garden, Hank. Maybe I have missed a few, but it seems to have been a while since you explored the “gardener” part of your title. What a joy to read, and to think about the amazing food that is beans… we always grow favas & green beans in the school garden but you have inspired me to get the kids growing some dry beans for fall/winter harvest.

  4. Hi Hank. I really enjoy your blog.
    I grow white runner beans–they do very well in my cool marine W Washington climate. Better than common beans. My local Greek gardener friend grows gigandes in his garden, and they look identical and grow identically to my runners–we agree that both are runners–species Phaseolus coccineus.
    Your recipe is quite like mine–I usually add some garden thyme as well.
    I think of “soaking” the beans as “pregermination”–quite like what I do as preparation to planting the beans in the spring. Basically a gentle 24h soak at room temp or slightly warm, changing the water several times. I like to cook the beans in an oriental clay pot (very even temperature) with chopped shallots, bay leaf and crushed chili. Then use them in stews, etc., or cook them in a recipe like yours.
    Thanks so much for your blog.

  5. Thems some awfully beautiful beans there Sir. And you paid them proper respect with this recipe too. I’m not sure why, but everyone seems to be doing bean recipes lately. It’s in the air.