Big Beans with Skordalia

Gigantes and other big beans—lima, edamame, fava, and whatever else you can get—make great finger food. Fresh beans are preferable, but hard to find (so when you do, grab them). Home-cooked dried beans are also fine. Whichever you use, cook them only until just tender, with skins intact.

Serve the beans with toothpicks for spearing and dipping in skordalia, an eggless mayonnaise substitute from Greece. This version is emulsified with bread and nuts, and works beautifully with any crudité, though I find the beans a nice match with the nutty sauce. To make this recipe an integrated dish, simply toss the beans with the sauce.

4 cups cooked large beans

1 thick slice day-old whole grain bread

About 1 cup vegetable stock or water

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more as needed

1 cup pine nuts, walnuts, blanched almonds, or hazelnuts

2 cloves garlic, peeled, or to taste

¼ teaspoon cayenne, or to taste

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, or to taste

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Put the bread in a bowl and saturate it with the liquid. Wait a couple minutes, squeeze most of the moisture out of the bread into the bowl, then put it in a food processor with the oil, nuts, garlic, and cayenne. Process the mixture until smooth; then, with the machine running, pour in enough of the remaining liquid to form a creamy sauce.

2 Add the lemon juice and some salt and pepper and serve immediately as a dipping sauce for the beans or other vegetables. Stored in an airtight container and refrigerated, the sauce will keep for up to 2 days.