Cannellini with Fennel Seeds, Chilli and Rocket

This is a brilliant way to serve cannellini because as a base-note, they can be brought to life with the addition of peppery, spicy accompaniments. It works well alongside pork-based dishes in particular, but is a good partner also to fish or just with some good bread at lunchtime.

Serves 4-6 as a side

Ingredients

300g dried cannellini beans. You can of course use jarred pre-cooked beans if you are time poor

2 bay leaves

6 tbsp (90ml) extra virgin olive oil – we use Fuara, monocultivar Leccio del Corno from Frantoio Ciccolella in Puglia

2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed lightly

4 anchovies, drained from their oil and finely chopped

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

1 red chilli, chopped finely

40g wild rocket

Flaked sea salt and ground black pepper

Method

If you are using dried beans, put them in a large bowl and cover with 3 times their volume of cold water and soak overnight. In the morning, drain and then put them in a large pan of water with the bay leaves. Bring to the boil and then simmer for around 2 hrs or until tender. Do not add salt as it makes them tough. Season when they have been cooked.

If you are using pre-cooked beans, just skip to the next stage.

Gently warm your extra virgin olive oil in a high sided frying pan. Add the garlic, fennel seeds and anchovies and warm gradually for around 3 to 4 minutes. Add the chilli flakes and then remove from the heat. Add in the beans and combine along with a good splash of water, along with 3 or 4 good pinches of flaked sea salt and a generous grind of black pepper. Return to the heat for a further 2-3 minutes to allow all of the flavours to combine. If you are entertaining, you can do all of this in advance and then just finish as follows.

At the point of serving, stir through the diced fresh chilli and the wild rocket.

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