dear maria,
sorry for the delay in sending the recipe, but I needed to experiment to see how I make white beans. I made herbed white beans with roasted garlic, and I think it will work for you:
Dried beans generally double in size when you soak and cook them, so three cups dried will come out about 6 cups cooked and that is probably a good amount for a family dinner leaving some for the next day (hooray!). I used and favor dried cannellini beans, white kidney beans, one of the beans common to Italian cooking, but this will work with any white bean, like navy beans, too.
Bring a big stockpot of water to a boil, turn off the heat and leave your dried beans for an hour to soak. Drain the soaked beans and bring a fresh pot of water to a boil, about double the amount of water to beans. Peel a few cloves of garlic and quarter a small onion; add these to the boiling water. Add a few stalks of rosemary, thyme or both as well. Add your beans, cover the pot and bring it back to a boil. Salt and pepper the water and give it all a good stirring. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for half an hour and check the beans for tenderness. They may need to cook for up to half an hour more.
Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 400° and strip off the papery outermost layers of three heads of garlic. Slice off the tough, root end. Coat with olive oil and bundle in foil. Stick them in the oven and roast, turning occasionally, for half an hour. Let cool on top of the stove or out of the way until cool to handle.
Drain the cooked beans and dump into a big serving bowl, picking out the onion, garlic and herb stems. Chop a few tablespoons of fresh thyme or rosemary or both and stir them in. Pop the roasted garlic from their skins and stir them in. Drizzle with rosemary, sprinkle with salt and pepper, stir. Drizzle again with olive oil, sprinkle with paprika and serve with grated paramesean cheese.
Good hot or room temperature or reheated, so this is a fine dish for making in advance and sitting for a long time at the table.
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