Reprinted from Better at Home: Recipes for Big
Nights In by Colu Henry. Text copyright © 2026by Colu Henry. Published by Abrams

8 ounces (225 g) mixed heirloom regular and
cherry tomatoes, cut in half and larger ones cut
into chunks
1½ cups (130 g) thinly sliced fennel (from
1 medium bulb)
1 small shallot, thinly sliced into rings
1½ cups (85 g) cooked large white beans (such as
California Corona or Large White Lima), drained
5 tablespoons (75 ml) extra-virgin olive oil, plus
more for drizzling
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 ounces (170 g) rustic bread, torn into 1-inch
(2.5 cm) pieces
½ cup (120 ml) Immersion Blender Aioli (recipe
available on the Bean Club Portal) or mayonnaise
1½ teaspoons ‘nduja
Small fistful of basil, torn
Flaky salt, for serving
Serves 3 or 4
In a large bowl, gently toss together the toma-
toes, fennel, shallot, beans, 2 tablespoons of the
olive oil, a good pinch of kosher salt, and a few
grinds of black pepper. Set aside.
In a 12-inch (30 cm) skillet, heat the remaining
3 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat until it
shimmers. Add the torn bread and cook, stirring
occasionally, until the bread is toasty and golden,
5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool
slightly.
Meanwhile, mix together the aioli and the
‘nduja until well combined. Take a spoon or a
spatula and swoosh the mixture onto a large plate
or platter.
Toss the toasted bread with the tomato and
fennel mixture. The tomatoes will have released
a fair amount of juice to coat everything nicely.
Taste and season with more salt and pepper as
needed. Pile on top of the smoky aioli. Top with
the basil, some more olive oil, and a few pinches
of flaky salt.
Ceci Piccoli
These small chickpeas are n

Reprinted from Every Leaf, Every Stem, Crave-
able, Creative Vegetables all Year Long by Pierce
Abernathy. Copyright © 2026 by Pierce Aber-
nathy. Reprinted by permission of Clarkson Pot-
ter, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a
division of Penguin Random House LLC

CHARRED LEMON DRESSING
2 lemons, halved crosswise
½ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 small garlic clove
SALAD
1 bunch of kale
1 cup Crispy Chickpeas (below)
½ cup Castelvetrano olives, pitted (or whatever
olives you like)

⅔ cup crumbled feta cheese (optional)
⅓ cup almonds, preferably Marcona
¼ cup Sumac Pickled Onions (recipe available on
Bean Club Portal)

2 celery stalks, chopped
¾ cup chopped seedless cucumber
1 Asian pear, cored and chopped

Serves 4 to 6

1. Make the dressing: Heat a small cast-iron
skillet over high heat. Add the lemon halves,
cut-sides down, and cook until charred on the
bottom, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the lemons from
the skillet. Juice the lemons into a small blender
or food processor; discard the spent peels. Add
the olive oil, capers, salt, and garlic and blend
until smooth.
2. Make the salad: Remove the stems from the
kale by grasping the leafy part and pulling off the
stem. Thinly slice the stems and set aside. Lay the
leaves on top of each other in a bunch, then thin-
ly slice crosswise. Place the sliced leaves and stems
in a large bowl, then add the crispy chickpeas,
olives, feta (if using), almonds, pickled onions,
celery, cucumber, pear, and half of the lemon
dressing. Toss to combine, then taste and adjust
the seasoning with more salt and/or dressing.

Crispy Chickpeas
11/2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained and dried
very well
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet
with parchment paper. Spread the chickpeas on
the prepared baking sheet and bake for about
5 minutes, until they’re truly dry on the outside.
Remove the chickpeas from the oven, drizzle with
the olive oil, and season with the cumin and salt.
Toss to coat, then return to the oven and bake,
tossing once halfway through, until crispy, 25 to
30 minutes.

Transfer to a rack and let cool.

Reprinted from Ottolenghi Simple Too by Yotam
Ottolenghi. Copyright © 2026 by Yotam Otto-
lenghi. Reproduced by permission of Ten Speed
Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House
LLC. All rights reserved.

4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp Urfa or Aleppo chile flakes
1 preserved lemon, seeds removed, finely chopped
(2 tbsp)
2 tsp lemon juice
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste
1 tbsp biber salçası (Turkish red pepper paste),
mild or hot (or tomato paste with a pinch each of
sugar and dried chile flakes)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp heavy cream
2½ to 3 cups cooked Lima beans, such as Jackson
Wonder, Christmas Lima, or Large White Lima,
with about ½ cup bean broth
Flaked sea salt

Serves 4

1. Put half of the butter into a small saucepan and place over high heat. Cook, swirling the pan
occasionally, for 2–3 minutes, until nutty and deeply brown. Take off the heat, carefully add the chile flakes, preserved lemon, and lemon juice,
and set aside

2. For the beans, add the remaining butter to a large frying pan and place over medium-high
heat. When hot, add the onion and fry for about
7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until starting to
caramelize. Lower the heat to medium, add the
garlic, biber salçası, and cumin, and cook for 1
minute. Add the cream, beans (including the liq-
uid), and 1/4 cup/60ml of water. Cook for about
5 minutes, until the liquid has thickened and
lightly coats the beans.

3. Drizzle with the Urfa butter, add a pinch of
flaked sea salt, and serve straight from the pan

Excerpted from SOUTHERN ROOTS: Recipes
and Stories from Mama Dip's Daughter by Anita
Spring Council, copyright ©2026, reprinted by
permission of Countryman Press, an imprint of
W. W. Norton & Co., Inc. All rights reserved

For the Pinto Beans
1 lb uncooked pinto beans
1 smoked ham hock
2 teaspoons granulated garlic
2 teaspoons granulated onion
1 tablespoon fresh minced savory leaves or
1½ teaspoons dried savory leaves
2 teaspoons salt

For the Fatback Corn Bread Crumble
3¼-inch slices fatback
1 cup cornmeal ½ cup self-rising flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Serves 8

Pick over the beans for small rocks or debris.
Rinse well and cover with cold water and soak
for 6 hours or overnight. Transfer the beans to a
stockpot or Dutch oven. Add the ham hock and
enough water to cover the beans by 2 inches.
Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook the
beans, stirring occasionally, for 11/2 hours. Add
the garlic, onion, savory, and salt and continue
cooking until tender and creamy, about 30 min-
utes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Fry the fatback on each side in a small skillet
over medium heat until crispy, 30 to 40 seconds
on each side. Drain on paper towels. When cool
enough to handle, chop the fat portion into small
pieces. Pour the fat rendered from the fatback
into an 8-inch square baking pan. Set aside.
Combine the cornmeal, flour, and sugar in a
medium bowl. Add the buttermilk and egg and
stir until combined. Pour into the greased baking
pan, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until gold-
en brown.
When the corn bread is cool enough to handle,
grate it against the large hole of a box grater. Place
the crumbs in a small bowl. Add the butter and
toss to coat. Spread the buttered crumbs onto
a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 5 to 10
minutes until crisped.
Spoon warm pinto beans into your serving
dish or bowls. Top with the Fatback Corn Bread
Crumble and add a layer of Onion Jam (recipe available in Bean Club portal).

Serve immediately.

Reprinted with permission from Cooking the
Borderlands: Spice and Smoke Between Mexico and
the States by Claudette Zepeda. Copyright ©
2026 by Claudette Zepeda. Published by Clark-
son Potter, an imprint of the Crown Publishing
Group, a division of Penguin Random House
LLC, New York.

4 cups cooked Vaquero, Mayocoba, or Pinto beans,
some cooking broth reserved
1 cup Salsa de Molcajete (below)
12 ounces fresh pork chorizo
1 cup manteca or lard
2 cups small-diced queso Chihuahua
Diamond Crystal kosher salt
Optional Garnishes
Flour Tortillas, not-really-optional
Crumbled queso fresco
Ground chiltepín peppers

Serves 2 to 4

Blend the cooked beans with the salsa un-
til smooth. If you need more liquid to get the
smooth texture, you can add water or some of the
cooking liquid from the beans, 1/4 cup at a time.
In a large skillet over medium heat, add the
chorizo, using a wooden spoon to break it up into
crumbles. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the fat is completely rendered out of the meat (the crum-
bles shouldn't be fully dried out or caramelized).
Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chorizo to a
bowl and set aside.
Add the manteca or lard to the rendered chorizo fat in the skillet. Once the lard is melted, carefully
pour the blended beans and salsa into the pan.
Stir frequently to incorporate the lard into the
beans—you're basically "frying" the beans in the
fat. Add the chorizo to the beans and continue
stirring everything together.

Once the chorizo is three-quarters of the way
mixed in, add the cubed cheese, and yes, keep
stirring. Do not stop stirring until the last of the
cubed cheese is completely melted and combined.
At this point, remove from heat and add salt to
taste.
Transfer the beans to a large serving bowl as
a dip to share, or portion into smaller bowls to
serve as a personal snack. Always serve with flour
tortillas for dipping, full stop. Top with some
queso fresco and ground chiltepín peppers.

Salsa de Molcajete
1 large yellow onion, quartered
8 Roma tomatoes
6 medium tomatillos, husked and rinsed
1 Anaheim pepper
1 serrano pepper
4 garlic cloves
1 bunch cilantro, including stems
2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt (or 1
teaspoon Morton salt)
Special equipment: molcajete or blender/food
processor

Makes 4 cups
Heat a comal, griddle, or cast-iron pan over
medium-high heat. When the griddle or pan
starts to slightly smoke, place the onion, toma-
toes, tomatillos, and peppers on the hot surface to
blister, spaced apart so they're not sitting on top
of each other.
Once you start to see some blistering on the
bottom of the vegetables, rotate them using tongs
to allow another side to blister. Continue to cook,
rotating each vegetable until all sides are blistered
Remove the peppers and onions when they are
slightly charred on the outside, and the tomatillos
and tomatoes when they are cooked throughout
and soft. Adjust the heat to low-medium, add the
garlic cloves to the griddle, and cook until com-
pletely cooked through and soft.

Add the ingredients to the molcajete and mash
them together, adding salt to taste. Add water a
splash at a time as necessary until you reach your
desired texture.
If you are using a blender or food processor,
coarsely chop the blistered vegetables. Blend half
the vegetables, pulsing to break everything down
while keeping the texture chunky. Add the second
half of the vegetables and pulse a few more times
to your desired consistency. Add salt and/or water
to taste.
Allow the salsa to cool to room temperature;
then store in an airtight container. It will keep for
4 days in the fridge.

Reprinted from Fagioli: The Bean Cuisine of Italy
by Judith Barrett (Rancho Gordo Press, 2023).

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled
3 salt-packed anchovy fillets, rinsed in cold water,
filleted, and chopped; or 6 oil-packed anchovy fillets, drained and chopped
15 flat-leaf parsley sprigs, leaves only, finelychopped
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 cups cooked Occhio della Capra, Borlotti, or
Cranberry beans, drained
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Serves 4

Warm the olive oil in a medium Dutch oven
or saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic
and cook just until it begins to brown, about 3
minutes. Add the anchovies; use a wooden spoon
to mash them into the oil; they should dissolve
quickly. Stir in the parsley and vinegar; continue
cooking about 5 minutes longer. Add the beans to
the anchovy sauce. Season cautiously (anchovies
are typically salty) with salt and pepper, and mix
well.

Serve at room temperature.

• 1 cup dried Jamaica (hibiscus) flowers
  
• 8 cups water
  
• 1/2 cup sugar (or to taste)
  
• Lime juice to taste (optional)

1. In a large pot, combine dried Jamaica flowers and 4 cups cold water. Over medium-high heat, bring to a soft boil for 5-8 minutes.
2. Remove from the heat. Add the sugar and stir well until it fully dissolves.
3. Add the remaining water and let it cool. (Let sit overnight if you like a stronger flavor.)
4. Strain into the desired pitcher. Taste for sugar and water and add more if necessary. Add lime juice to taste (optional).
5. Refrigerate until ready to drink. Serve over ice.