Cannelloni Beans from Italy

The last time we were in Italy we purchased a bag of dried cannelloni beans.  These are basically a white kidney bean which we use for one of our favorite dishes … Tuscan Chicken with White Beans and Wilted Greens (see a previous blog).  This time we decided to make something different with the beans so a search on food network dot com came up with Tuscan Shrimp with White Beans by Michael Chiarello.  We teamed the shrimp with roasted Brussels sprouts for a great and very filling dinner.

            The most difficult part of this meal preparation turned out to be the cannelloni beans.  We soaked them overnight but they were still hard so I put them in a skillet and added some water and let them simmer and simmer and simmer.  After about an hour and a half, the beans were finally soft and ready to serve.  As a contrast, the shrimp took about 10 minutes from initially putting the pan on the stove to putting the shrimp on the plate.

            The dinner was paired with a 2005 Valserrano Reserva.  This excellent red wine from Spain is an Alfio Moriconi selection from Total Wine.  It went very well with the dinner and of course paired well with the inevitable chocolate.