I’m cutting down on carbs at the moment so tonight while everybody else had pasta I had some butter beans with my bolognese.
I heated them up then mashed with with a bit of garlic flavoured olive oil. They were OK but a bit dry. is there a better way to prepare them or a better alternative that I can try?

Basil, black pepper corns, garlic, make a rich fresh tomato sauce, shallow fry the beans with the other stuf then add the fresh vine toms last, light fry in own oil..

Or

Rosemary, fennel and mirin wine and garlic, add butter to shallow fry…

HTH

I add butter when mashing to avoid them being too dry. Depending on exactly what approach you are taking to carb cutting (sounds like avoiding processed stuff) then a little boiled sweet potato added when mashing is _really_ tasty. IMO etc.

Courgettes cut into ribbons and steamed make a good alternative to spaghetti.

Can’t help with the butterbeans, the only time I’ve used them for something other than chilli type stuff was to make a cake.

I make this fairly regularly at it tastes pretty good.
http://tabrecipe.com/toulouse-sausage-butter-bean-casserole/

They work better with more fresh tasting basil/tomato concoctions imo, than bolognaise. No need to mash, just serve the sauce with the beans.

We can buy Spaghetti Squash via a local veg box scheme…never heard or seen of it before but great to replace pasta. You can just dump a jar of pasta sauce over it if you want to be lazy.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_squash

Add breadcrumbs and you’ll have chocolate biscuits if you listen to the mice in Bagpus.

Beaten to it by sandwicheater… the only use for butter beans…

Don’t worry. When you fart the world of it’s axis tonight, you’ll be back on pasta.

Thanks guys. They were not bad 🙂

They work better with more fresh tasting basil/tomato concoctions imo, than bolognaise. No need to mash, just serve the sauce with the beans.

Molly I think I’ll try your approach – having made tea for the rest of the family I’m happy with something quick and easy.

Not like this:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4767/pork-with-garlicky-bean-mash

One of the more unpleasant things I’ve cooked!

I like tomato/chili sauce (arrabiata I think, or Lloyd Grossman’s tomato and chili) with bacon then the beans mixed in. Delish.

shallow fry drained butter beans with a bit of garlic, fresh rosemary or thyme, and some red chilli.

Aim for the beans to pop a bit can go fluffy/chrispy. Give them a slash of red wine vinegar before you serve.

Can be dry on their own but nice with lots of salad and fresh toms.

Same treatment works with pretty much any canned beans – cannelini work well or the mixes of 3 or 5 beans.

Also really nice with flageolets too – but don’t drain them – fry the other stuff first then add the beans with some of the liquid from the tin a simmer for a bit and again a splash of red wine vinegar when you serve.

nice with scrambled eggs on whatever-it-is-carbs-avoiders-have-in-the-place-of-toast