Roast Pork or Chicken with Sage, Rosemary and Garlic

4 Tablespoons extra-virgine olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, minced or grated finely
1 Tablespoon minced fresh sage
2 Teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
salt and pepper
4 pounds pork rib roast (don't use the center cut - it will have no flavor and be dry)

12 ounces or 1 pound of dry flageolet beans, cooked, or small white beans, canned
1 large onion, or 2 medium
butter
3 large Yukon gold potatoes
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
pepper

For the meat, mix the first 4 ingredients and the salt and pepper, and rub them on the pork (you can use a large roasting chicken if you prefer). Put the meat in a roasting pan.

If you are cooking pork, cover the pan with foil and roast for 2 hours at 375 degrees. If using a chicken, do not cover with foil but use a vertical chicken roaster (sort of like a chicken chimney).

Fry the chopped onion in 2 Tablespoons of butter until golden, then add the drained beans, and the potatoes. Set aside.

After one hour of cooking the roast, remove the foil (if you are doing the pork) and place the cooked beans and the potatoes (peeled and cut in half), the bay leaf and parsley in the bottom of a roaster under the pork or chicken. Add 1-2 cups of chicken stock or water to the pan. Give the beans and potatoes a good stir, then roast for another 1-2 hours, until everything is cooked to your liking. Check from time to time and give the beans a stir. Add more stock if they are getting too dry. Salt the beans and potatoes to taste (it is best to salt beans after cooking so they don't become tough).

Remove the roast to a platter to slice it, and dish up the beans and potatoes into a bowl.

The drippings from the pork or chicken will season the beans and potatoes, relieving you of the disheartening task of making GF gravy. The beans will be so delicious you will wonder why you ever used to make gravy to begin with.

Notes: If you are not familiar with the fabulous flageolet beans of France, please see if you can obtain some. They can be pressure-cooked for 25 minutes and used in this recipe. If you don't use a pressure cooker, then soak them over night and cook as you would cook dry kidney beans. If you don't have access to flageolet beans, then use canned small white beans but it won't be as delicious.

It is best to grow your own fresh herbs for fall and winter cooking, but if you don't have fresh sage and rosemary then use half as much dry herbs. So, if the recipe calls for 1 Tablespoon of fresh sage, use 1 and a half teaspoons of dry sage.

© Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca