There’s something therapeutic about shelling beans. It’s this good ol’ hands-on feeling, like I need me a porch, a rocking chair, and some lemonade. That I do.
By Vanessa Pastore
There’s something therapeutic about shelling beans. It’s this good ol’ hands-on feeling, like I need me a porch, a rocking chair, and some lemonade. That I do.
These, along with the rest of my haul, were destined to become the first stew of the season:
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Veggie Stew
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
There’s something therapeutic about shelling beans. It’s this good ol’ hands-on feeling, like I need me a porch, a rocking chair, and some lemonade. That I do.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 Medium yellow onion
- 2 large garlic cloves
- 6 carrots
- 2 bell peppers
- 2 cups cranberry beans, shelled
- 1 zucchini
- 1 tiny jalapeño pepper
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- Shredded fresh basil ( a good fistful)
- 1 tsp dried marjoram
- 1 cup reserved cooking liquid from beans
- Olive oil for cooking the vegetables
- Fresh parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Fill a large stock pot with warm water, and set on high heat to boil. Once it boils, add the 2 cups of shelled cranberry beans- do not add salt! It makes the beans take longer to cook / toughens them. Turn the heat to medium, where you should reach a rolling boil, and let boil for 45 minutes or so. Taste the beans for texture at around 40 minutes, and keep testing. You want them to be soft and creamy- and that can take up to an hour. It’s worth the wait. Tough beans, while an awesome comeback, are not very tasty.
Meanwhile:
- Chop the onion, and put your garlic through a garlic press. If you don’t have a garlic press, you should get one (but we’ll let you chop it this time.) Like a friend of mine said: “it will change your life.” It has. It intensifies the garlic flavor, interestingly enough, which is perfect for this application.
- Chop your carrots and bell peppers into roughly the same sized pieces- set aside.
- Slice your zucchini into rounds, dice your jalapeño and set aside
- In a large deep pot, cover the bottom with olive oil, turn to medium heat, and add your onions and garlic.
- Once the onions have softened, add the bell pepper and carrots, and let cook until slightly softened, around 7 minutes.
- Add the 2 cups veggie stock, marjoram, and salt & pepper to taste. Let the carrots & peppers get tender, about another 5-7 minutes.
- Add the cooked beans, zucchini rounds, diced jalapeño, and fresh basil. If the mixture seems on the dry side, add the reserved bean cooking liquid here.
- Taste for seasoning and adjust salt/pepper if necessary.
- The zucchini takes very little time to cook, and the beans are already done, you want to heat everything through and incorporate the flavors.
- Garnish with fresh parsley, the underdog of the herb world, under-rated and delicious.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Main
