Tag: Cannellini recipe

Cannellini beans and garlic mash, a healthier alternative to mashed potatoes!

Wow, it’s first of June, the first day of the final half of the year. If you hadn’t started on your new year’s resolution (you know, that bit about eating healthier and stuff), well, guess what…..it’s a good time to start today.

For instance, instead of reaching out for some creamy & sinful mashed potatoes, how about trying out some creamy but not so sinful Cannellini bean mash? They are low in fat and packed full of fibres, iron, magnesium and folate.

Okay, I had to google that up but that’s beside the point.

# – Cannellini beans.

Also, I didn’t really plan on eating mashed potatoes replacement because I developed a sudden concern for health. I just happened to buy one too many cans of Cannellini beans which were on sale and I needed to eat them up before they expire.

Thank goodness, this attempt to finish up Cannellini beans is not a disaster like the previous time.

In fact, it turned out extremely well! Without further ado, lets start!

The ingredients:

  • 1 can of Cannellini beans, drained
  • 5 cloves of garlic, sliced
  • 1 tablespoon of rosemary powder
  • 100 ml of milk or whipping cream (even chicken stock)
  • Salt and pepper

# – First, fry up the garlic slices till fragrant.

# – Then, dump in the drained beans and stir for a bit.

# – Add in a tablespoon of rosemary powder for flavour.

# – A sprinkling of salt and pepper for taste….

# – Followed by the liquid. I used cream which was honestly very naughty but you can substitute with milk or chicken stock. Using water is just downright depressing.

# – With a potato masher, mash the beans up. If you’ve got a hand blender, even better!

# – Serve as a delicious healthy side dish to grilled mustard pork chops.

So if you’re on a carb strike but is aching for some creamy mash, by all means try this out. Cannellini beans are virtually tasteless on their own so they absorb external flavours very well….certainly a great vehicle to deliver an awesomesauce gravy.

Minus the tedious tasks of peeling and boiling potatoes, I have a feeling I’m going to stock up more on Cannellini beans…..

Swear I just heard a grunt from the BF’s direction. Or was it a fart? LOL.

My cheese baked rice that was not :(

I was really excited about making this dish. My boyfriend absolutely loves it. Whenever we visit one of those Hong Kong themed restaurants, he never fails to order this. One layer of cooked rice, followed by a layer of meat sauce then topped off with cheese and baked till top is bubbly. Easy right?

So easy I didn’t even bother to look at a recipe. That was how cocky I was. Well, as it panned out, my version of cheese baked rice turned out quite bad :(

It was edible…okay let me rephrase, the crust was edible and now and then some bits of rice. The rest? Atrocious.

How could something that looked so good out of the oven and smelled so heavenly turned out to be a complete disappointment?

# – Perfectly good cheesy crust…what could go wrong? Right?

And every cooking failure is a lesson I have to learn from. From my disastrous cheese baked rice, I’ve learnt:

  1. Not to add beans I’ve never cooked before into perfectly fluffy rice just because I need to use some of them up.
  2. Never to buy too many cans of beans I’ve never cooked before because they were discounted. Refer to point above.
  3. Not to leave too much liquid in the meat sauce. Okay, to be more specific….drain the damn tuna. It won’t take too long.
  4. Not to cook too much of something you’ve never made before.
  5. Stick to the cheaper cheeses for first time dishes!!!!!
  6. Don’t EVER, EVER, forget the salt

# – Cannellini beans….not such a smart idea now is it?

I suppose that’s the nature of cooking, you can have some good days but you will bound to experience some bad days too.

If you’re attempting some form of cheese baked rice, and for some unknown odd reason you feel like dumping a can of cannellini beans into your rice, please, I implore you, DON’T!

# – This is an illustration of “BAD MOVE”.

So I screwed dinner up. It’s not too bad, all I had to do was take over the dishes duty and the BF’s successfully pacified. So there, if you’ve encountered any cooking disaster, don’t be discouraged and keep on cooking folks!