a gigante pot of Greek beans

I was feeling adventurous the other day and decided to try my hand at gigantes, the giant white beans often featured in Greek cooking. I believe gigante means "giant" in Greek and these creamy beans really are enormous - each one is roughly the size of a quarter. A quick search on epicurious yielded a recently published recipe for gigante beans from one of my favorite chefs, Michael Symon.

I went to law school in Cleveland and spent three happy years living amongst laid-back and good-natured midwesterners. Cleveland is actually a great town for foodies -- it is home to a surprising number of excellent restaurants and specialty markets and there's never any traffic or need to make a dinner reservation more than a few days in advance. And, for the most part, it's less expensive to eat out there in than in New York, which was friendly to my graduate student budget.

During my third year of law school, I read "The Soul of a Chef," by Michael Ruhlman, a journalist and Cleveland native. The book, which I recommend despite its slow beginning, profiles two very different up-and-coming chefs, Michael Symon and Thomas Keller (the famed chef behind the French Laundry in Napa and now Per Se and Bouchon Bakery in New York). At the time, Michael Symon was an ingenue on the national culinary scene, though he had a successful restaurant, Lolita, on Cleveland's trendy west side (trendy for Cleveland, at least). Since the publication of Rhulman's book, Michael Symon has opened Lola, a second much bigger restaurant in Downtown Cleveland, won a coveted James Beard award, and least interestingly, joined the Food Network's roster of American Iron Chefs. But he was so lovable as a struggling young chef bringing his passion to a random neighborhood of a dying rust belt city, that I won't hold that against him.

But I digress -- pent up blogging energy. The bottom line is I was excited to make Michael Symon's version of gigantes only to discover that I could not actually find the dry beans. Anywhere. I went to Fairway, Citarella, and Whole Foods and none of them carried gigante beans. One of those new helpful women in red aprons at Fairway suggested I try Kalustyan's on Lexington Avenue and 28th Street.

Kalustyan's is the most magical specialty foods store I have ever been in. They have row upon row upon row of exotic ingredients. I would not have been at all surprised to see a cape-clad Harry Potter shopping in there for rare ingredients for a new spell recipe. Since I don't really like candy and never did, the "like a kid in a candy store" has never really applied to me, but that's how I felt as I roamed the aisles of imported beans, grains, nuts, herbs, spices, and spreads. You must check it out. I found a 2lb bag of gigante beans in no time at all and was on my way home to get started. 24 hours later, I had 3 quarts of really tasty beans.

And without further ado, here's the recipe for an enormous pot of greek beans:

1 pound dried gigante beans

1/4 cup olive oil

2 medium onions, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

6 cups chicken or vegetable broth

2 cups water

1 28-ounce can of chopped San Marzano tomatoes

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup ouzo (Greek anise-flavored liqueur)

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 cup fresh chopped dill

1. Place beans in a large bowl and cover with water by three inches. Let soak overnight then drain and set aside.

2. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add chopped onions and garlic and saute until onions are golden brown, 7-10 minutes. Add beans, broth, water, chopped tomatoes with juice, vinegar, ouzo, oregano, and crushed pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until beans are tender 2-3 hours.

3. If necessary, uncover and cook beans until tomato mixture thickens and liquid is slightly reduced, an additional 10-15 minutes. Stir in chopped dill and season beans with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

We've been eating a lot of beans at our house this past week. They're good plain, with a salad, along side a sliver of spanikopita, and over couscous.

If you don't feel like making gigantes yourself but you'd like to eat some, I suggest stopping by Anthi's Greek Food, a delicious and inexpensive takeout place on Amsterdam Avenue between 89th and 90th. I have picked up gigantes, spanikopita, and tzatziki there several times lately and it's all been great.