• robm on June 18, 2013

  Although this is not a vegetarian or vegan book, many of the recipes are fully usable by vegetarians and vegans, and many others are easily adapted. The author is a real chef and includes all kinds of delicious dishes using beans, even desserts! An excellent book for those who are trying to add healthier dishes to their diets that use less or no meat products.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Summer minestrone with pesto alla Genovese

  • dinnermints on June 01, 2016

    Very good! I used my own pesto instead of using her recipe - used 1 tbsp per serving. I sauteed the leek in 2 tbsp olive oil before adding the rest of the ingredients, used home-canned tomatoes instead of fresh, green beans instead of romano, and 1 lb potatoes instead of the pasta (was looking to use them up).

• Diner-style split pea soup

  • wkhull on October 27, 2022

    This was the first time I had ever cooked a ham hock. Naively, I did not realize how much fat is rendered from the hock. I did not realize this until the soup became solid when refrigerated, and liquidy when re-heated. It was tasty, but not worth the calories. If making a similar split pea soup again, I think bacon would be better tasting. Page 145.

• Hoppin' John

  • terri_nedgwy on January 02, 2026

    Classic comfort food that can be tweaked with available or seasonal ingredients

• Black turtle beans with epazote and cotija cheese

  • wkhull on January 09, 2023

    Really solid black bean recipe. I could not find epazote, so subbed oregano. I think this took about 2 1/2 hours of oven time. (Page 250)

• Scarlet runner beans in brown butter and shallots

  • claire_txa051 on April 18, 2026

    Delightful flavor but be sure to read that these are meant to be cooked as fresh beans - we had dried and had to pivot mid recipe when we realized!