Botanica’s Bean Tartine With Sage-Pistachio Pesto
Some dishes are more than just recipes, they're collaborations, celebrations, and expressions of community. This stunning tartine is all of that. It comes from Botanica, one of Los Angeles's leading vegetable-forward restaurants, founded in 2017 by two former food media entrepreneurs, Heather Sperling and Emily Fiffer. The recipe was created for a special partnership between Primary Beans and Botanica during a 10-day food festival organized by the non-profit RE:Her, which worked to uplift female restaurateurs during the pandemic.
Botanica calls this their "lady-powered tartine," featuring ingredients from other female-owned businesses. It's a beautiful example of how food can bring people together and support one another, while also being absolutely delicious. At the heart of the dish is a sage-pistachio pesto that's so tasty, you'll be glad to have leftovers. As Botanica explains, "It's not overly aromatic or aggressive, thanks to the savory, anchoring effect of garlicky oil and sweet, buttery pistachios. You'll want to pair it with many things (eggs, fish, roasted vegetables), but it's especially wonderful with beans."
Why This Recipe Is Special
What makes this tartine so captivating is how it balances rich, complex flavors with simplicity. Creamy Cranberry beans get tossed with that vibrant green pesto, then piled onto crispy, olive oil-brushed toast. A sprinkle of Manchego cheese and a drizzle of good finishing olive oil complete the dish. It's elegant enough for a dinner party but easy enough for a weeknight, and every component can be made ahead.
The pesto is the real star. Instead of the traditional basil-pine nut combination, this version uses fresh sage, pistachios, preserved lemons, and parsley. The sage gets steeped in warm garlic-infused olive oil, which mellows its flavor and turns it a beautiful dark green. Preserved lemons add brightness and complexity. Pistachios bring sweetness and richness. The result is a pesto that feels both familiar and completely new, sophisticated but not fussy.
The Star: Cranberry Beans
Let's talk about Cranberry beans, Doudlah Farms' heirloom beauties that are a testament to what happens when regenerative practices meet culinary excellence. These thin-skinned beans cook down to a velvety texture, releasing a rich, indulgent bean broth. What sets these particular beans apart is their remarkable versatility and nuanced flavor profile, slightly buttery with earthy undertones that complement rather than overpower other ingredients.
What makes Cranberry beans perfect for this tartine is their creamy texture and ability to soak up the flavors of that vibrant pesto. They're substantial enough to be the main component of the dish but mild enough to let the pesto shine. When you bite into one, you get creaminess, herbaceousness from the pesto, and all those wonderful flavors working together.
Our Cranberry beans come from Mark Doudlah at Doudlah Farms in Wisconsin. Mark is a 6th generation farmer who transformed his family's conventional farm into a certified regenerative organic operation. After his father was diagnosed with Mantle Cell Lymphoma, known as The Midwest Farmers' Cancer, due to long-term exposure to farm chemicals, Mark knew he had to change how they farmed. Today, Doudlah Farms goes beyond organic with Regenerative Organic Certification and continuous testing to ensure the cleanest, most nutrient-dense beans possible. As a sixth-generation Wisconsin farming family, the Doudlahs understand that truly good food must nourish both the body and the land from which it comes, a philosophy you can literally taste in every spoonful. Learn more about Mark and Doudlah Farms.
About the Sage-Pistachio Pesto
This pesto deserves its own spotlight. The technique of steeping sage in warm garlic-infused olive oil is brilliant, it softens the sage's sometimes assertive flavor while infusing it with garlic. The sage turns a dark, gorgeous green as it absorbs the oil, almost like it's being quick-pickled.
Preserved lemons add a salty, fermented complexity that you can't get from fresh citrus. If you've never cooked with preserved lemons, this is a great introduction, they're tangy, slightly bitter, and deeply savory all at once. Combined with pistachios (which are sweeter and more delicate than pine nuts), fresh parsley, Aleppo pepper for gentle heat, and all that garlicky sage oil, you get a pesto that's balanced, vibrant, and incredibly versatile.
Botanica is right, you'll want to put this on everything. Eggs, fish, roasted vegetables, pasta, grain bowls. But it really is especially wonderful with beans.
Building the Tartine
The assembly is simple but thoughtful. You start by cooking your Cranberry beans with aromatics like garlic and bay leaves until they're tender and creamy. While they cook, you make the pesto, warming garlic in olive oil, steeping the sage, then blending everything until smooth and vibrant green. The pesto gets refrigerated immediately to retain that gorgeous color.
To build the tartines, you brush thick slices of crusty bread with olive oil and toast them until golden and crispy. Meanwhile, toss the beans with enough pesto to coat them generously, plus a squeeze of lemon juice and sea salt. Pile the dressed beans onto the toast, sprinkle with grated Manchego cheese, and finish with a drizzle of your best olive oil.
The result is layers of texture and flavor: crispy bread, creamy beans, bright pesto, salty cheese, fruity olive oil. It's simple but sophisticated, the kind of dish that makes vegetables and beans feel special.
Make It Your Own
This recipe makes plenty of leftover pesto and beans, which is actually a gift. Use the extra pesto throughout the week on eggs, grilled chicken, roasted cauliflower, or tossed with pasta. The beans are delicious on their own, in salads, or as a side dish. Together, they make an incredibly easy lunch, just toast bread, warm the dressed beans, and you're set.
You can also experiment with different beans (Cannellini or Flageolet would be beautiful), different cheeses (Parmesan, Pecorino, or feta would all work), or even serve this as a composed salad instead of on toast.
A Dish with Purpose
What makes this recipe even more meaningful is what it represents, women supporting women, businesses coming together during hard times, and the power of food to build community. Every time you make this tartine, you're participating in that story of collaboration and support.
And honestly, it's just really, really good.
Related Recipes
The Heirloom Bean + Grain club
Learn More
Get impossible to find beans and grains shipped direct to your doorstep each month from small family farms.
Support small family farms
Shop Now
We support small, family owned farms across the nation. Did you know that farmers only make an average of 10 cents on every dollar you spend at the supermarket? Working directly with farms and not middle men ensures that more money goes back to the people actually growning your food.