White Bean Ragout on Toast with Oregano Pesto

I had kind of a hard time picking out a good name for this dish.  Graham called it a super-bruschetta, and I had been calling it fancy beans on toast, but I wasn’t sure that either was a very blog-worthy or appealing title for such a delicious main dish.  I ended up searching online for a name and picked ‘ragout’ (pronounced “rah-goo”) because I found a somewhat similar dish with that name and because ragout sounds a little more sophisticated than fancy beans.  According to Wikipedia, it comes from the French ragoûter, which means “to revive the taste.”

Anyway, this dish is a slightly different take on an older recipe that I posted a while back, Lima Beans with Stewed Tomatoes and Oregano Pesto.  Both dishes are excellent and definitely worth making, but the ragout is probably a little quicker to make than the lima bean dish.  I’ve made the ragout a few times for weeknight dinners and haven’t had to spend too much time in the kitchen preparing the meal.

White Bean Ragout on Toast with Oregano Pesto

I used simple sourdough bread for the toast, but you could use ciabatta bread or a sliced baguette.  In the past I have omitted the oregano pesto and used a delicious rosemary baguette, which was also a tasty combination. 

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 15oz can of white beans/cannellini beans, drained
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Bread for toasting
• Oregano pesto (see below)
• ½ cup crumbled feta cheese

Oregano Pesto

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Salt to taste

In a large sauce pan, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil and add the onions.  Cook until onions are translucent and then add the garlic.  Cook for one more minute and then carefully pour in the tomatoes with their juice. Cook the mixture for about 5 minutes. Stir in the drained white bean and cook for another 5 minutes or until the mixture has thicken a bit.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  When the ragout is almost done cooking, toast the bread.

While the ragout cooks, make the oregano pesto by pureeing the olive oil, oregano, parsley, garlic and salt in the bowl of a food processor.

To assemble the dish, drizzle the toasted bread with a little bit of the pesto and then top with some of the ragout.  Sprinkle the ragout with the feta cheese and broil in the oven until the feta is heated through.  Drizzle more of the pesto over the top of the dish before serving. 

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