Ready, set, get soaking those lupini beans

Some of the best dishes that accompany any feast are the starters, or antipasti. This is my favorite part of the meal — sitting around the table and noshing with family and friends with a glass of wine and some good crusty bread.
Today’s Busy Cook page featured some tasty side dishes that could also serve as starters for your Easter meal.
Easter is one of my favorite holidays when it comes to culinary traditions. And lupini beans top my list of must-haves for any feast day. I usually try to have lupini beans ready made for eating year ’round, but they are probably best associated with Italian meals for the big holidays, such as Easter and Christmas.
I can remember the time and care my late mother put into making her lupini beans for Easter.
She had them soaking for weeks in a huge pot in the basement sink, and would periodically let the water run in a steady stream to keep the water fresh. I loved to eat lupini beans as a child. But I have to admit I was a bit afraid to go down in the basement to play when they were soaking because the dreaded bacala, a salted cod fish, was also doing its long soak in a neighboring sink, and I never much cared for that. In the cold cellar (a smaller cellar within the cellar) were crocks of pickled pig’s feet and ears (yuk!), so you can just imagine a child’s imagination taking off around the holidays with things like that in the basement.
But I digress.
Lupinis are a dried legume that require a long soaking time in order to eat them. They are extremely bitter if they are not soaked long enough. You can find them already prepared in some markets next to the pickled peppers and olives. But I have found the store-bought ones are much too salty for my taste.
So I decided to figure out how to make them because I was too young to appreciate the magic my mother made in her kitchen (note to others: write down those ancient memories and pay attention to what’s going on in the kitchen before it’s too late!).
After some trial and error, I found this recipe to work for about 1½ pounds of beans:

1. Pick over the dried beans.


2. Put them in a big pot of water and bring it to a boil.


3. Remove from the heat, and let them cool.


4. Rinse them well; put the beans in a gallon jar and fill it with water.


5. Put the jar in the refrigerator and rinse them every day for two weeks.

At this point, you can taste one to see if all the bitterness is gone. Then add about 4 tablespoons of salt to the jar, which can be kept for weeks in the refrigerator (change this periodically and add more salt when you do). They are ready to eat at this point, but I like to dress them with olive oil, fresh garlic and parsley, some vinegar, and a dash of tamari (Japanese soy sauce — up in heaven, mom is probably shaking her head in disbelief), but I believe a little zen added to an Italian recipe is a good fit. 
Watch for flying projectiles
Eating them takes a little practice, because they have a tough outer skin.
Take a bean, bite into the skin with your front teeth and “pop” the inner bean into your mouth. Discard the skins, which are edible if you really feel like chewing that much. Novices at the table have sent many a bean-projectile sailing across the room, but it’s all in good fun.
Once you get the hang of eating a lupini, there’s no turning back.
They are addicting, and packed with protein.
There are probably other ways to make them, but there is no getting around the long soaking period and daily ritual of rinsing them.
One method I found for lupinis online is a little different in that you soak them overnight; then rinse and boil them for an hour before storing them in a jar of water with salt in the refrigerator for only five days.
I’ve been using my method for years, and they are delicious, but I would concede that it can’t hurt to soak them overnight.
Who would have thought that such a bitter little bean could turn out so delectable after a good long soak?
I would love to know if there is anyone else who makes lupini beans, or if there is a family recipe you would like to share that involves such a long preparation time.

http://blogs.poughkeepsiejournal.com/dishnthat/2007/04/04/ready-set-get-soaking-those-lupini-beans/ 

Here's an interesting blog I found Julie.