Friday, September 04, 2020

Roasted tomato & white bean stew

 August 29, 2020


When I saw Rach's tweet about a white bean stew that had become her 2020 cooking obsession, I immediately added it to our list for the week ahead. It promised the perfect mix: low effort and high reward. And it delivered. This is super easy - you can put it all together in half an hour - and it's really, really good. White beans provide a rich, hearty base, while the tomatoes add a touch of sweetness and the lemon/parley mix some tang. You can boost or reduce the spiciness via how generous you are with the chilli flakes - I'd use a heavy hand, but your tastes may vary. The only downside: the quantities as written don't make enough to give us the days of leftovers we're looking for from a stew. Next time we'll double it.


Roasted tomato & white bean stew
(via this recipe on the New York Times Cooking site)

1 punnet of cherry tomatoes (~300g)
1/4 cup olive oil + 2 tablespoons
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
the leaves from 1 small bunch of parsley
zest of 1 large lemon
1 onion, sliced thinly
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
2 x 400g cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1.5 cups veggie stock
salt and pepper
bread to serve (it would work equally well with quinoa or rice I reckon)


Preheat the oven to 220°C. 

Mix the tomatoes, oil and thyme leaves in a baking tray and roast for 25 minutes, until the tomatoes are collapsing.

In a small bowl, combine the parsley leaves with the lemon zest and set aside.

While the tomatoes are cooking, get to work on your stew. Pop the 2 tablespoons of oil, onion, garlic and chilli flakes in a large pot over medium heat and cook for 5 minutes or so, until everything has softened up nicely.

Throw in the beans and the stock and bring the stew to a simmer. Mash up some of the beans to thicken the stew - the more you mash, the thicker the stew will be. 

Once the tomatoes are ready, thrown them in the stew, along with any juices. Simmer for another 5 minutes and then season with salt and pepper. 

Serve in shallow bowls, topped with a couple of spoonfuls of the parsley and lemon mix. Serve with toasted fresh bread. 

2 comments:

  1. Wow this looks great and my thyme is growing really well this year. And every now and again we have a tub of cherry tomatoes to use up so I can see it is a great way to use it.

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