Monday, February 05, 2007

Baby Bella & White Bean Stew...

Four days into a winter storm, the school is actually closed for a "snow day." This rarely happens here. Mostly, we just take winter weather in stride; we're used to it. However continuous snowing and blowing ultimately will slow those of us who live on the back roads down a bit more than usual. Sub-zero temps (taking wind chill into consideration) just adds to the equation.

For lunch, I just ate a big bowl of yesterday's Baby Bella & White Bean Stew. This is a recipe that I came up with after hunting for one online, but not finding what I was looking for. I thought I would share, in case anyone else looks for excuses to buy Baby Bella (little portebello's, a.k.a. crimini) mushrooms. This warm, filling stew is a really good excuse!

Baby Bella and White Bean Stew

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons Olive Oil

3/4 cups chopped onions (a combination of red and green, or just whatever you have on hand)

6 cloves garlic, (4 chopped roughly and 2 crushed)

2 cups sliced Baby Bella mushrooms

2 (16 oz) cans veggie broth

2 (16 oz) cans white beans

1 cup frozen chopped spinach

1/2 cup plain or whole wheat couscous

1/4 cup red white or balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon oregano

1/4 to 1/2 crushed red pepper

Freshly ground black pepper to taste


Directions:

Heat olive oil. Saute onions, garlic, mushrooms and spices until mushrooms are golden. Deglaze the pan by stirring in wine or vinegar. Add broth, white beans, and spinach. Cook on medium high until the broth comes to a soft boil. Add in couscous and turn off heat. Cover and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

This will really thicken up, so add more veggie broth if you want it more soupy. If you like things spicy, this is good garnished with crushed red pepper and/or a little shot of hot sauce.

This will make 4 to 6 generous servings.
photo by Aisling, February 5, 2007

5 comments:

Michele said...

Ooh, Aisling, this sounds delicious! I love mushrooms, will definitely be trying this one.

Marcie said...

Let me know if my directions are clear, once you try it. I've said before that I'm the kind of cook that just throws things in the pot, so writing things out as a recipe is new to me. Next, I need to learn how to add nutritional information, etc. to original recipes.

Patty said...

that looks so good ! Next cold day I am going to make it

Marcie said...

Patty, I hope you like it when you try it. It must be different to live where you have to wait for a cold day! Some folks felt like that here when we had a warmer than usual late December/early January. We are in an entirely different weather pattern now. Our neighbor's home weather station showed 40 below 0, F! The fire in the woodstove has finally gotten it to 68 degrees in our home!

Linda said...

yum this looks quite good. very hearty. thanks for sharing :) hope it kept you warm in this freeeezing cold.