Feijão Verde com Nata

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 3-liter pot
• •Wide skillet or wide-bottomed pot for browning, if using carne de sol
• •Fine colander
• •Wooden spoon or fork for mashing

Instructions

1. 1

   Rinse the beans

   Pick over the fresh feijão verde and rinse it in a bowl of cool water, rubbing gently until the water loses any grit. Fresh beans are already hydrated, so don't give them the overnight soak meant for dried beans. If you're using dried feijão-de-corda instead, soak 1 1/2 cups in plenty of water for 8 hours so they cook evenly and sit easier, then expect a longer simmer.

   Fresh feijão verde should look plump and pale green, not leathery or tired. Buy it when it's actually good, which usually means cheap, local, and not sulking in the market.
2. 2

   Cook until tender

   Put the rinsed beans in a heavy pot with the water and bay leaf, if using. Bring to a boil, lower to a gentle simmer, and cook with the lid slightly ajar until the beans are tender enough to crush against the roof of your mouth but still hold their shape, about 25 to 35 minutes. Stir in 1 teaspoon salt during the last 5 minutes. Save 1 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid, then drain off the rest, because too much loose water turns nata into soup.

3. 3

   Brown the carne

   Set the pot back over medium-high heat and warm the manteiga de garrafa. If using carne de sol, pat it dry and brown it in one loose layer until the edges turn deep amber, 3 to 4 minutes. Work in batches if your pot is small. Pile it all in and the meat releases water, the heat drops, and you're steaming grey cubes instead of dourando flavor into them. Scoop the browned carne de sol onto a plate.

   No carne de sol? Skip it cleanly. This is still a full, honest side for rice, eggs, fish, chicken, or whatever is solving dinner in your house.
4. 4

   Build the refogado

   Lower the heat to medium. Add the onion to the fat left in the pot and cook, stirring now and then, until it goes soft, sweet, and see-through, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic for 1 minute, just until you smell it, then add the tomato and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook until the tomato collapses and the fat shines at the edges. This is the refogado, the place where flavor starts. A packet can make salt. It cannot make this.

5. 5

   Thicken the caldo

   Return the beans to the pot with the carne de sol, if using, and 1/2 cup of the reserved cooking liquid. Scoop a ladle of beans against the side of the pot and mash them with a spoon or fork until they turn creamy, then stir them back through. Add more cooking liquid a few spoonfuls at a time only if the pot looks dry. The mashed beans are what make the caldo creamy instead of watery, no powder pretending to do a bean's job.

6. 6

   Finish with nata

   Turn the heat to low and stir in the nata and black pepper. Add the queijo coalho, if using, and warm gently for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring with care, until the sauce is ivory, glossy, and clinging to the beans. Don't boil it hard. Nata can split, and fresh beans can collapse into mush if you bully them. Taste for salt, fold in the coentro or cheiro-verde, and serve with arroz soltinho and something green.

Chef Tips

• •Feijão verde means fresh cowpeas here, not the long green beans you snap in half. Look for plump pale green beans. If the fresh ones look tired, buy frozen. A Tuesday is a Tuesday, and frozen beans are still real food.
• •Nata is thick cream skimmed from milk. Fresh heavy cream works if that's what you can get, but the sauce will be a little looser and less rounded. Useful shortcut, honest cost.
• •Don't use seasoning powder or a cube. You already have onion, garlic, tomato, good fat, and the bean's own caldo. That's dinner speaking in full sentences.
• •Carne de sol is not the same as carne seca or charque. Carne de sol is usually less dried and less salty; carne seca and charque are more heavily preserved and need more soaking. Treat them the same and the pot will tell on you.
• •For batch cooking, freeze the cooked beans before adding nata. Cream can separate in the freezer. Reheat the beans with a splash of cooking liquid, then finish with nata fresh at the end.

Advance Preparation

• •Fresh shelled feijão verde can be rinsed and kept refrigerated for 1 day before cooking.
• •If using dried feijão-de-corda instead of fresh feijão verde, soak it overnight, at least 8 hours, in plenty of water.
• •Cooked beans without nata keep 4 days in the fridge or freeze for up to 3 months. Add nata only when reheating and finishing the pot.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 260g)