Shrimp with Gigande Beans

One of our best-selling dishes here at Bistro-to-Go is Shrimp with Gigande Beans. It’s the simple combination of the two main elements tossed together with some olive oil, garlic, dried chili pepper and chopped parsley that makes this dish a winner! And what actually makes it SO simple is that we use Divina gigande beans because they’re cooked to perfection and canned. In the old days at Blue Mountain Bistro, Richard used to soak dried beans overnight and cook them himself, but found that they didn’t cook evenly. No matter how many beans seemed the perfect “done-ness” there were always a number in the batch that were too crunchy, thus dissatisfying. These Divina beans are perfect every time! It’s no wonder they garnered the Sofi award from the National Association of Specialty Food Trade competition which honors truly outstanding food products.

Gigandes are plump, meaty white beans grown along the mountain slopes in Northern Greece.  They’re packed with protein and have been a staple of the Mediterranean diet for centuries.  Divina’s gigandes are marinated in a delightful vinaigrette with red and green pepper strips. They can be served as a savory, stand alone antipasto dish or as a special ingredient in salads. We sell a giant can (70 oz) of gigandes for $16.99! If you aren’t planning a large dinner party to use the whole can, you can freeze whatever’s left in sandwich baggies and pull them out as needed for a quick healthy snack, make your own “hummus”, toss into a salad OR make this quick easy dish.

Shrimp with Gigande Beans
Chef Richard Erickson, Bistro-to-Go

1 pound shrimp, shelled
Sea salt to taste
1/2 cup good olive oil
4T chopped garlic
2-3 bay leaves
Dried red chili pepper
Chopped parsley

1.  Season the shelled shrimp with sea salt and bring to room temperature while you prepare the other ingredients.  This is usually done with small shrimp.
2.  Choose a pan where the shrimp will fit comfortably (too small or too large a pan will affect the result.)
3.  Heat the oil, add garlic, bay leaves and chili pepper stirring carefully over medium heat.  At just the moment when the garlic begins to turn color add the shrimp, increase the heat and stir constantly until the shrimp are done, about 2-3 minutes.  If cooked too long the flavor of the garlic will go from nutty and aromatic to bitter and acrid.
4. Toss in the gigande beans, sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Serves 4 – 6 people as an appetizer with a baguette or 4 people served over angel hair pasta as an entree