Pork Chops with Italian Butter Beans

It’s October. The season of pumpkin spice is upon us.  Everywhere you go, pumpkin spice: pies, cakes, cookies. Pumpkin spice candles, therapeutic oils, scented sprays.

Okay, maybe not everywhere. My local office supply store has no pumpkin spice in sight. They’re closing October 18th to make way for a high-rise apartment building. Housing is desperately needed in the Bay Area, so it’s hard to argue with anyone building more of it. Then again, decent office supply stores–actual stores, staffed by living, breathing humans, are in equally short supply. I’m sorry to see them go.

Let’s not even discuss Halloween. I don’t know about you, but I’m plenty frightened already.

—

So, pork chops and butter beans. I made this two weeks ago, and it was terrific. Did I write anything down? Of course not. I do know the inspiration for the dish came from Nigella Lawson’s Nigellissima, my least favorite of her books.

Nigellissima was supposed to be Nigella’s magnum opus, her love letter to Italy. Instead, by her own admission, she froze, and produced a book of Britalian food–her term, not mine. I don’t have a problem with Britalian food; it’s all the processed stuff in book’s recipes. Then again, who am I to judge? I have never published a cookbook in the midst of a highly publicized divorce. In fact, I have never published a cookbook, period.

My real problem with Nigellissima is I longed for it be like How To Eat: intellectual, erudite, dotted with poetry. I would like all of Nigella’s work to be like that. Mine is a minority opinion.

Nothing new there.

So there I was, searching for a novel way with pork chops. Enter Nigellissma’s Pork Chops With Fennel Seeds And Allspice.

This isn’t that recipe, but I believe in giving credit where it’s due.

Let’s start with the beans. Why Italian style?

Because the beans themselves are Italian, even if the recipe is not.

The best beans are dried, and come from Rancho Gordo. Obviously these are neither. But when times are tough, Italian beans in a glass jar are the next best thing. They cost a bit more than canned beans, but when you taste them, you’ll understand why.

The jar label called these “corona beans,” which I’d never heard of. They’re like gigantic butter beans, and require nothing more than heat. If you have a clay pot, this is a good time to use it.

I forgot to photograph the beans in their clay pot. So I give you this apartment building in Berkeley. One wonders if paisley curtains are forbidden.

The beans may be heated to boiling, drained, and served as is, or you can fancy them up with olive oil, red pepper flakes, minced garlic cloves, and herbs like parsley, mint, and thyme. Lots of fresh lemon juice is nice, too.

The pork gets a dredge in seasoned flour–salt, pepper, ground fennel seed–before being cooked with olive oil and marsala.

I’ve made this with boneless pork and bone-in chops; bonless pork is best sauteed, to avoid dryness. Thicker, bone-in chops are best cooked in the oven

However you prepare this, pork chops with Italian butter beans is easy to get on the table. Some kind of salad is nice alongside, or, as the weather cools, consider a cooked green like collards or bok choy. For the love of God, give kale a break,