White Bean and Tomato Stew With Toast

I made white bean stew for dinner last night. I've made it a couple of times but this time I added in a few special ingredients that made it even better! The recipe is adapted and inspired from this gourmet magazine recipe that I came across a few months ago.

First thing to do is to let about a cup and a half of dried white beans (navy, cannellini, etc) soak in water over night. About an hour and a half or two hours before you want to eat, bring the beans up to a boil and simmer until thoroughly cooked (this should take anywhere from one to two hours depending on how fresh the beans are).

Next, I sautéed a small onion, 4-5 cloves of garlic, 4 celery stalks and 4 carrots in olive oil. After about five to seven minutes I turned the heat to high and poured in about a cup of red wine. Next I added in about a tablespoon or two of tomato paste, and maybe half a teaspoon each of dried rosemary and fennel seeds. Once the wine cooked off for about two minutes, I poured in a large can of tomatoes and added in about a tablespoon of dried porcini powder and a tablespoon or two of fresh thyme. Let this simmer for 15 minutes, or until the beans are ready, then add the beans right in, salt to taste and let that simmer together for another 15-20 minutes.

Finally, toast up some olive oil and garlic covered stale bread in the oven. Serve topped with parmesan.

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

First, I sauteed leeks in olive oil. Then added a tiny bit of dried rosemary, some chili flakes, roughly chopped carrots, celery, turnips, parsley and garlic (you could use ANY combination of vegetables). After about 5 minutes (when the edges of the vegetables started to caramelize) I added in about half a cup of red wine, cooked that off, and then half a can of tomatoes. In the meantime, I cooked about half a cup each of puy and green lentils in some water. When the lentils were ready, I added them to the rest of the vegetables along with some chickpeas, then topped the whole thing off with buttery mashed potatoes I popped the whole thing in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes. I would have let the top get a little darker but something dripped onto the bottom of the oven and it started to burn! Still tasted super delicious. The chickpeas totally made the whole dish. Next time I might add in some kale.