Meatless Meal: Garlicky White Bean Stew
Posted by Sarah Britton
When I was in school for nutrition I went back home to live with my mom. (Understatement of the year to say she was happy about this.) This is when I began really cooking for the first time in my life. Every night was an experiment: knives blazing, spices flying, pots and pans getting some serious exercise. We always sat down to something special and, despite my insanely busy schedule, I found that cooking dinner for us was the most relaxing moment of my day.
Sometime during those months, I came up with this stew. On a particularly busy night when I was cramming for an exam, I threw together what we had in the fridge--amazing how cleaning out the kitchen can result in such deliciousness! This dish quickly became a staple and my mom, although now living without her live-in chef, has mastered it as well.
I am always trying to get more kale into my diet. Why? Because it packs more nutritional punch per calorie than almost any other food on the planet. Seriously. It is chock-full of vitamin K, an essential vitamin for preventing bone fractures, postmenopausal bone loss, calcification of your arteries, and has even been shown to protect against liver and prostate cancer.
Kale is the richest source of carotenoids in the leafy-green vegetable family, making it a top cancer-fighter. Kale helps to regulate estrogen, protects against heart disease, and regulates blood pressure. The calcium in kale is more absorbable by the body than milk (and ounce for ounce, contains more calcium than milk)! This makes it an excellent choice for both prevention and treatment of osteoporosis, arthritis and bone loss.
Garlicky White Bean & Kale Stew
Serves 3-4
Ingredients:
Knob of coconut oil or ghee
2 medium onions
6 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional, but really delicious)
5 bay leaves
Pinch chili flakes
Sea salt
Cracked black pepper
2- 2 ½ cups cooked white beans (lima, butter, navy, cannelini…)
2 cups packed shredded kale leaves
2 cups vegetable broth
1 can (14 oz.) organic whole tomatoes
Cold-pressed olive oil to garnish
Directions:
1. Heat a knob of oil in a large stockpot. Slice onions and add to the pot with a couple pinches sea salt, chili, bay leaves and paprika. Cook for a few minutes until the onions have softened, then add sliced garlic. If the post becomes dry, add a little juice from the tinned tomatoes.
2. Add all other ingredients, bring to a boil, season to taste, and serve with a drizzle of olive oil (since everything is cooked, you don’t need to heat it long). If you are going to let it simmer for a while, add the kale about 5-10 minutes before serving so that it retains more of its nutritional value.
Sarah Britton is a holistic nutritionist, vegetarian chef, and the creator of the award-winning blog My New Roots. Sarah is currently a chef at three organic restaurants in Copenhagen, Denmark, where she has earned praise for her creative and adventurous recipes. A Certified Nutritional Practitioner, she is also the founder of New Roots Holistic Nutrition, where she educates others to be an active participant in their own health and healing.
Related Posts:
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Meatless Monday: Vegetable Stew
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Meatless Monday: Massaged Kale Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
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Meatless Monday: Chickpea Salad with Watercress
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Meatless Monday: Earth Bowls with Freekeh
Tags: Meatless Mondays, Recipes, soup
Posted by Sarah Britton on December 10, 2012 in Food + Nutrition, Recipes, Special Diets
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Comments (22)
From: Sara | 12/11/12 at 4:34 pm
Can I freeze this? I will add the kale when I reheat it...
From: Brenda Claybrook | 12/11/12 at 5:29 pm
So sorry that this is your last post. I have really enjoyed and made good use of these posts.
From: Katie | 12/12/12 at 5:43 pm
I just pinned this to make for dinner tonight, yum!
From: Meatless Meal: Garlicky White Bean Stew – Whole Living Daily : Whole Living « Out of the Crab Bucket | 12/12/12 at 8:23 pm
[...] Meatless Meal: Garlicky White Bean Stew – Whole Living Daily : Whole Living. Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like [...]
From: angela brebner | 12/14/12 at 6:01 am
Just made this for dinner. Cooked bean component till it became saucy before adding kale. Made gnocci and added it at the end. A most delicious satisfying meal. Big Aussie thank you.
From: Christy Fisher | 12/14/12 at 11:52 am
My husband and I just made this for dinner. It was SO easy and SO delicious. I added some chopped Thai chiles and 1/2 cup extra water because I like really brothy soups. I also subbed chard for the kale because our market didn't have any. This will definitely be a go-to quick dinner for us.
From: Kristen | 12/14/12 at 5:42 pm
I'm excited to try this! Have you ever used broccoli instead of kale? My husband has a kale-aversion...
From: Mikiko S | 12/18/12 at 1:41 pm
Kale is readily available this time of year here in Holland and this looks like a great alternative to the traditional Dutch boerenkool (kale) stamppot. Looking forward to trying it.
From: Holiday Baker Man | 12/27/12 at 9:43 pm
Perfect for January when we are trying to atone for our December excesses!
From: gay c | 12/29/12 at 11:09 am
This is wonderful. The garlic and pepper cuts right through the worst cold. This is a keeper. Thank you.
From: Kat | 1/1/13 at 11:16 pm
Delicious! This is the first food I have cooked now in the new year, and I completely enjoyed it. I am not in my own kitchen right now, so didn't have access to the herbs listed...still, it was fantastic without them. But I did add some sweet peas because they are fantastic. Thanks for the beautiful recipe!
From: Joe | 1/3/13 at 1:09 am
I have done Google and Bing searches and have been unable to find any reference to "a knob of oil". What is it? a teaspoon? tablespoon? ½ cup?
From: Dana | 1/3/13 at 3:34 pm
@Joe - I think a knob translates into about 2 tablespoons.
From: Linda | 1/5/13 at 9:59 pm
What's a knob?
From: the soup whisperer + kale and white bean soup « le petit captain | 1/6/13 at 10:19 pm
[...] adapted from my new roots [...]
From: Detoxing from 2012 | Running From Perfect | 1/22/13 at 7:47 pm
[...] Garlicky White Bean Stew [...]
From: Everything But the Kitchen Sink Soup « fullspot | 1/28/13 at 7:57 pm
[...] used Sarah Bitton’s recipe Garlicky White Bean Stew as my Inspiration. However, my version of this this soup ended up being more of a cleaning out the [...]
From: archael2 | 2/6/13 at 6:32 am
I have a weak stomach, how do you think this recipe will gel with irritable digestion?
From: Mom | 2/12/13 at 12:35 am
Soup recipe looks yumalicious
From: Sourav | 2/13/13 at 3:44 am
I see, this item is good for arthritic patients. My mom is suffering from arthritic pain in knee joints. I will surely tell her to incorporate this item into her daily diet chart. Thanks for sharing. it is a good help..
From: beth | 2/26/13 at 7:47 pm
I made this and it was great! I used fire roasted tomatoes, smoked paprika and fresh bay leaves. Really easy. I ordered the MS Meatless cookbook and can't wait to try more.
From: cooking for grandpa: a garlicky kale + white bean stew recipe | peace. love. quinoa | 3/3/13 at 12:28 pm
[...] recipe was adapted from the Garlicky White Bean Stew recipe on [...]