🍽 Braised White Beans & Greens With Lemon

Good news for dinner (& your girl, planet earth)

Beans can save the world 🫘🌎
This is the idea that kicked off my plant-based lifestyle. Back in the olden days, my sister Laura and I were chatting through world problems, and stumbled upon the potential of beans.

Beans are…

• Filling and healthy —> Health/obesity crisis? Solved.

• So cheap —> Financial squeeze? Over.

• Sustainable —> Global warming? Wham.

Humans, eat more beans. Fast forward a few years, and here I am drawing and yammering about cooking plants ✌️

Below I present an extra creamy bean-forward dinner. This recipe makes a hearty and satisfying main course. Serve it with thick slices of crusty bread to sop it all up. Inspired by Lidey Heuck, from the New York Times

• ¼ cup olive oil

• 1 leek, thinly sliced

• 1 medium yellow onion, diced

• 2 teaspoons dried rosemary

• 8 cloves garlic, chopped

• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

• 4 cups chopped spinach or kale, or a mixture of both

• 1 (15-ounce) can of cannellini beans, drained

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

• Zest of 1 lemon

• 4 tablespoons grated romano or parmesan cheese

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 6-8 thick slices crusty bread, toasted

1. Heat the olive oil In a large sauté pan or skillet over medium heat. Add the leek, onion, and rosemary, and cook, stirring often, until soft, 4 to 6 minutes. Add the garlic, salt, and red pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute. 

1. Add the greens in handfuls, cooking and stirring until the leaves wilt before adding more.  

1. Add the white beans, broth, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper, and stir until combined. Bring to a boil, decrease the heat to low and simmer, until the liquid has reduced and thickened, 6 to 8 minutes. 

1. Remove from the heat, and stir in the lemon juice, lemon zest, and romano cheese. Taste and add salt and black pepper, as desired. 

1. Serve in small bowls with slices of toasted bread on the side for your fellow eaters to dip and enjoy.

Easy ingredient swaps:

• Make it vegan: Nutritional yeast instead of romano cheese

• Any white bean instead of the cannellini beans 

Q: Can I use dried beans instead of canned beans?

A: Absolutely. Just cook them before jumping into the above recipe. Rock on my homesteader friend.

👆1 thing you can do to improve your cooking today? Salt your food while you cook! We’ve all been told that the American diet has too much sodium, but that sodium is a result of processed food, not home cooking. Salting your food as you cook changes the entire chemistry of flavors, enriching the dish far more than a salt-storm at the end. Read more here. This tip was kindly brought to my attention by Stacie, an incredible recipe tester, home cook, and contributor to my upcoming cookbook. Thanks Stacie!

All fired up to cook? Same!

Cheers,

Betsy