White Beans and Ventresca: What a Good Tin of Tuna Is For
The first recipe to learn with good tinned tuna is the one that does the least to it. A tin of ventresca is already cooked and seasoned and comes packed in its own oil, so the work belongs to what goes underneath: small white beans simmered until creamy, dressed while still warm with sherry vinegar and olive oil, and sharpened with a quick-pickled red onion. The tuna goes on last, in whole pieces, laid over the top and never stirred in. That one rule is the recipe. Ventresca is the belly fillet, fattier and softer than the loin, and it collapses into shreds the moment a spoon starts mixing. Long, mild piparra peppers from the Basque Country bring the bite, and the oil from the tin is the final dressing. How the tins differ is covered in the complete guide to tinned tuna and ventresca, and how long an opened one keeps in the guide to how long tinned fish lasts after opening.
Ingredients, for four as a main
- 250 g (9 oz) dried small white beans, such as Rancho Gordo Alubia Blanca (shop Rancho Gordo Alubia Blanca)
- 1/2 yellow onion, 2 garlic cloves lightly smashed and 1 bay leaf, for the pot
- Fine sea salt
- 1 small red onion, sliced paper thin
- 3 tablespoons sherry vinegar, divided, such as Pommery sherry vinegar (shop Pommery sherry vinegar)
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tin (110 to 120 g) tuna ventresca in olive oil, such as Espinaler bonito ventresca (shop Espinaler bonito ventresca) or Jose Gourmet ventresca (shop Jose Gourmet ventresca)
- Optional, for a main-course plate: 1 tin of albacore or bonito loin in olive oil, such as Ramón Peña bonito (shop Ramón Peña bonito)
- 6 to 8 piparra peppers, stems trimmed
- 2 piquillo peppers, such as Espinaler Lodosa piquillos (shop Espinaler Lodosa piquillo peppers), torn into strips, optional
- A small handful of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- Black pepper and flaky salt, to finish
Method
- Soak the beans. Cover the dried beans with cold water by three inches and leave them on the counter for eight to twelve hours.
- Simmer the beans. Drain, put them in a heavy pot with the half onion, garlic and bay, and cover with fresh water by two inches. Bring just to a boil, then turn the heat down to the smallest simmer the burner will hold, lid slightly ajar. A hard boil splits skins. A lazy bubble keeps them whole. Add a teaspoon of salt once the skins begin to soften. Start tasting at one hour. The beans are done when they are creamy all the way through, with no chalk at the center, which takes one to one and a half hours at sea level and longer in Denver. The longer method is in the heirloom bean cooking guide.
- Pickle the onion. While the beans cook, toss the sliced red onion with one tablespoon of the vinegar and a pinch of salt. Leave it at least fifteen minutes, until it turns bright pink and loses its raw edge.
- Dress the beans warm. Drain the beans, keeping half a cup of the cooking liquid, and fish out the onion, garlic and bay. While the beans are still warm, toss them gently with the remaining two tablespoons of vinegar, the olive oil, a good pinch of salt and a splash of the cooking liquid. Let them sit ten minutes, then taste. They should be well salted and distinctly sharp, because the tuna and its oil will soften everything.
- Build the plate. Stir the pickled onion and most of the parsley into the beans and spread them on a wide platter. Open the tins and pour their oil into a small cup. Lift the ventresca out with a fork and lay it over the beans in the largest pieces it will hold, with the loin beside it if using. Do not flake it and do not toss it in.
- Finish. Arrange the piparras and piquillo strips around the tuna, spoon the tin oil over the whole platter, and finish with black pepper, flaky salt and the last of the parsley. Serve warm or at room temperature, with bread for the bottom of the platter.
Why it went wrong
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The tuna turned to mush | It was stirred into the beans | Lay it on top in whole pieces as the last step. The belly falls apart under a spoon. |
| Beans burst, skins everywhere | The pot boiled hard | The smallest simmer the burner holds, lid ajar, and gentle stirring |
| Beans still chalky after two hours | Old beans, or altitude | Keep going and judge by taste, not the clock. Add hot water to keep them covered. |
| Flat, heavy, oily | Not enough acid or salt in the beans | More vinegar and salt in the beans themselves, then taste again after they rest |
| Dry, dull plate | The tin oil went down the drain | Pour it into a cup first. It is the last dressing. |
Notes and variations
Belly or loin. Ventresca is the abdominal fillet: soft, rich and layered, and the reason this recipe exists. The loin is firmer and leaner, holds its shape in bigger chunks and suits a main-course plate. One tin of each, side by side on the same beans, shows the difference better than any description. The Espinaler ventresca is bonito del norte, albacore from the seas off northern Spain. On an American tin, only albacore may be sold as white tuna. The rest of the label is decoded in the guide to reading a tinned fish label. Two of the tuna canners have their own pages: the Espinaler producer guide and the Conservas de Cambados guide.
The piparras. Piparras are long, thin green peppers from the Basque Country, pickled and mild, and a natural match for bonito. Their vinegar bite does the job the sherry vinegar does in the beans. Pepperoncini work as a substitute.
The weeknight version. Two 400 g (14 oz) tins of white beans, drained and rinsed, then warmed for five minutes in a saucepan with a splash of water and the bay leaf, replace the dried beans. Dress them warm the same way. Dinner takes twenty minutes and loses some creaminess.
Other tins. The same beans take sardines or mackerel in oil just as well, and the serving logic is the one in the guide to serving sardines straight from the tin. Any oil left on the platter belongs on the bread or in a vinaigrette, as in the guide to using the oil left in a tin of fish.
In Denver. Water boils at about 203°F at 5,000 feet, not 212°F, and Colorado State University Extension lists beans among the foods that need longer boiling or simmering times at elevation. The beans are the only part of this recipe the altitude touches, so expect them to run past the sea-level time and judge them by tasting. The tuna, the dressing and the peppers are the same at any elevation, which is why the canned-bean version is the one to make at the ski house. The other altitude adjustments are in the Denver altitude cooking guide.
