Cabbagio e Pepe

Beans as art, relocation, and my favorite dinner.

To me, luxury comes from a feeling of satisfaction, inner peace, and presence. For me, this often comes from feeling satiated, artistically satisfied, grounded, and nourished. Today I will show you how to create luxury in less than 15 minutes as we continue to unpack the Luxury of Legumes.

I visited Berkeley three years ago in an attempt to find joy in life. Upon stumbling into Berkeley Bowl and eating an almond croissant from Nabolom, I knew I had to relocate.

This relocation came with many factors: leaving a partnership, hanging up my pottery practice, and moving to a city where I knew nobody. But when you’ve just eaten the best almond croissant of your life and followed it up by being able to buy produce not wrapped in plastic every day of the week, I had no choice.

Berkeley became my home, and beans became my art.

In my art practice, I’ve always been fueled by creativity, play, and a sense of childlike wonder. To recreate, mimic, and copy are all great forms of practice, but they have always left me feeling hollow.

Some of my best art pieces were inspired by the pleats on a dress, a cookie I ate, and an old science textbook, and I try to approach my food with the same sensuality.

I of course draw inspiration from the meals I eat, but I want to create a dish that feels like the dances I shared last night. I want the beans to envelop me and transcend me beyond the place of a meal, to keep me on the edge of constant creation and play.

Because of this yearning for play, I seldom make the same meal twice. Or at least once I’ve perfected it to share with all of you, it generally goes into my edible archives.

This dish, however, has been on repeat for me since 2021.

I call her Cabbagio e Pepe. She is a combination of my two true spirit foods: cabbage and beans.

As a member of my one can, one pan series, she is made in 15 minutes or less using 5 or fewer ingredients, including one can of beans and one pan. Not only is she divine, she is simple yet luxurious.

Ingredients: