So good – the recipe adapted from Michael Psilakis.
Boil 1cup of green peas with a small onion and bay leave until soft. Drain. In a food processor pulse 1 roasted poblano, couple garlic cloves, 1 fat scallion, some cilantro and couple tbs of good white whine vinegar. Add peas. With motor running, slowly pour 1/2 cup of olive oil. Check the seasoning – you might need more vinegar.

Wegmans started to carry nice organic legumes – got some split peas and chickpeas to try. Decided to make the chickpeas/spinach dish one can find in every spanish cookbook. My version came from Jose Andres. I made some changes in spicing – braised chickpeas with cloves and cinnamon. Didn’t use saffron, and forgot paprika (stupidly). But it was picada that made this simple dish into something interesting and damn tasty.

From an excellent Boulud’s book Braise comes this dish. He calls for white beans but i used gigantic lima beans from Rancho Gordo instead.

Pretty much followed the recipe, just cut it in half. Enormous amount of spinach (2lbs). And it’s a great idea to braise (cook) beans along with vegetables: i always prefer oven treatment for beans: a generous amount of olive oil, not much water and aromatics create wonders.
The dish came out very good. I guess i’m not a big fan of spinach but it can be done with other greens like chard or romaine or even dandelions.

I cook a lot of dried beans, and always look for best cooking method so they stay intact and evenly done.
One of the best and easiest way that also produces a very flavorful pot liquor is the old italian techique called fagioli al fiasco. Reinterpreted to the modern kitchen this method boils down to the following: soak beans overnight (or for several hours), put in some earthenware pot (bean pot is ideal), add whole unpeeled garlic cloves, some herbs (sage is good), a generous splash of good olive oil, water to cover beans and some more (so they still under water when expand) and put in a low oven (200 – 230F) for couple or more hours. I start with a higher temp and check after an hour so they won’t boil.