White Beans a la Provencale

I got this while taking a course on "Heart Healthy " cooking. I found it great to serve with lamb or chicken and BBQ’d foods. Lighter than baked beans. The original recipe you will see uses dry beans but I have found the canned beans work very well and are much easier.  This recipe serves 4

Ingredients

• ½ lb dried white beans, washed and picked over or 3 cups canned Beans, kidney, white (cannellini)
• 2 tbsp olive oil (if using dried beans)
• 1 large onion Onions, raw
• 2 cloves garlic minced Garlic, raw
• 1 qt water Water, municipal
• 2 bay leaves Spices, bay leaf, crumbled
• salt Salt, table
• ¾ lb (3 medium ) fresh or canned (drained) tomatoes, peeled and chopped Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average
• ¼ tsp dried thyme or 1 tsp fresh (to taste) Spices, thyme, ground
• 1-2 tbsp chopped fresh basil (to taste) Spices, basil, ground
• fresh ground pepper Spices, pepper, black
• fresh lemon juice and zest

Method

[tips]