The Italian restaurant in Arvada we love, called Mamma Mia, has a delicious side dish of cannellini beans with a light red sauce and garlic. I thought it would be fun to try to recreate this recipe at home. My recipe has chunkier tomatoes and also prosciutto, mainly because I had some prosciutto left over that I needed to use. This is a super-easy side dish that only takes about ten minutes to make. If you omit the prosciutto, it is a healthy side to your meal!
- 2 15-oz. cans of cannellini beans rinsed and drained
- 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small can (14-oz.) plain diced tomatoes
- 1 tsp. chopped sage
- 1 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme
- 2 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
- About 5 cloves of garlic, minced in a garlic press
- 3 oz. chopped prosciutto (optional)
- Fresh ground black pepper and kosher salt to taste
Two cans of beans rinsed and drained, one can of tomatoes, thyme, fresh garlic and sage.
Drizzle the olive oil in a large skillet over low-medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for about 30 seconds or until you really start to smell the garlic but before it burns. Add the tomatoes, thyme, sage and rosemary, season lightly with salt and pepper, and simmer for about 3 minutes.
Simmering the garlic, tomatoes and seasonings.
Reduce the heat to low and add the cannellini beans. Continue to simmer the dish for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season once more with salt and pepper if necessary. Turn off the heat and stir in the prosciutto. Let stand for about 1 minute before serving. It’s that easy!
Cannellini beans with rosemary and tomatoes, served with seared ahi tuna (encrusted with black sesame seeds with a side of wasabi yogurt), plus sauteed spinach with balsamic vinegar.
A variation of this dish would be to blend the tomatoes in the food processor in advance. This would create more of a red sauce, versus chunks of tomatoes.
