Three Bean Stew
This lovely warming stew is comforting and nourishing: I use a combination of kidney beans, cannellini beans and black beans. It takes a few minutes to assemble all the ingredients and then you just leave the stew to bubble away. I serve warm with natural yogurt, chopped avocado and crusty bread rolls.
If there are leftovers I use this as a filling for baked enchiladas. Just fill wholemeal wraps with the bean stew, roll into sausage shapes and place in an oven proof dish, cover with tomato sauce and a final sprinkle of cheese. Then bake. Cheesy bean enchiladas: all from the same recipe.
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and diced
3 sticks of celery, trimmed and diced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 large potato, diced
680g tomato passata
1 tablespoon tomato purée
1/2 teaspoon paprika
Herbs: 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 2 bay leaves
Beans: x1 can black beans (400g), 1 can of kidney beans (400g), x1 can of cannellini beans
2 small courgette (200g approx), grated
Take a large ceramic pot and add olive oil and the diced onion, gently sauté for 5-10 minutes until softened but still translucent. Next add the diced celery and crushed garlic, cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring continuously so the garlic doesn’t burn. Add the diced potato, tomato passata, tomato purée, spices (paprika), herbs (fresh thyme leaves, bay leaves and dried oregano). Then 300ml of cold water. Simmer the tomato sauce for 15 minutes: the sauce will start to thicken and reduce and the potatoes should be just cooked.
Next drain and rinse the beans and add them to the tomato sauce, with the grated courgette, simmer for a final 15 minutes. Remove and cool slightly.