Stewed green beans
Welcome to To Vegetables, With Love, a celebration of a vegetable life, less ordinary. Find archived recipes on my recipe index.
My book Tenderheart is available from Books are Magic, Kitchen, Arts and Letters, Book Larder, Bold Fork Books and also here or here.
I’ve always struggled with the cadence of life in this city. New York City clears out in the summer and then, on the day after Labor Day, the honorary last day of summer, everything springs back into action. The new school year starts, the busy Fall book launch season kicks in, and emails have a certain “back to work” tone to them. From Zero to 100, overnight. All of this leaves me wondering, what should I cook, when I’m feeling frazzled?
This week, this bean stew was my answer. It wholeheartedly centers green beans (though I used yellow ones), and lets their robust texture and laid back earthiness shine.
The foundation of this flavorsome stew is a based upon sofito, the Spanish sauce of slow cooked onions, tomato and red capsicums (bell peppers) that is used as a base for many dishes including paella. During my Arthur Street Kitchen salad days, I made a popular roasted eggplant salad that featured an intense, 2-hour cooked jammy sofrito as its dressing.
Today’s recipe is a shortcut sofrito - the cook time is shortened by cooking the tomatoes with the lid on, allowing the flavours to intensify quicker. The longer the vegetables cook, the sweeter they become, so for this shorter cook time, I’ve added a little sugar to bring out those characteristics.
Before we go on, I wanted to say a quick thank you to all the lovely and heartfelt messages I received last week regarding my newsletter which mentioned my daughter leaving home for college. To be honest, when I sat down to write that newsletter, I had no intentions of writing about her. I guard my children’s privacy pretty closely but those words were the most genuine ones at that moment and I felt compelled to share. When I chose to feature Khushbu Shah’s pav bhaji, I didn’t even realize it was largely because it is one of my daughter’s favourite dishes and cooking it would keep her close. I feel so held and bolstered by this community. You are here for me as much as I am here for you and your kindness more than makes up for the occasional abusive emails I get for paywalling recipes. Thank you, truly 🙏🏽
COOK / EAT / SHARE
BACK TO WORK/SCHOOL/LIFE RECIPES
Here are some easy, pantry-led but super satisfying recipes that will ease you back into some sort of daily routine (all gift links):
Crispy gnocchi with feta and spinach
Fried rice with chili crisp and tofu
In the same spirit, The New York Times recently released this list of 100 Easy Dinners. Take a look, might be good for inspo.
🥦 My cookbook, Tenderheart is for cooking vegetables, all year round. Pick up your copy here. It is also mostly vegan (or vegan-izable) and gluten-free adaptable.
THIS WEEK’S RECIPE
Stewed beans with almonds and olives
Stewed is one of my favourite ways to eat green beans - they beautifully absorb the flavours of the ingredients they are cooked with, and stay robust even after longer cooking times. Lebanese bean stew comes to mind, silky green beans long cooked in a spiced tomato base, and finished with a healthy dose of olive oil. You’ll find similar versions in many mediterranean and middle eastern cuisines.
You can use any type of beans for this stew. I used yellow beans but regular green beans work well, as do flat and wide Romano beans. If you use the thinner, more tender haricot vert, you can shorten the cook time by a few minutes.
When I served this, I did so alongside patatas bravas. I had bought a premade bravas sauce from a new Spanish provisions store in my neighbourhood so it took no time to throw together. For those of you who have TENDERHEART, there is a beautiful sweet potato bravas salad which would go very nicely with these stewed beans. I recommend serving with bread for a simple or light meal or serving on the side to pasta or rice.
Serves 4
extra virgin Olive oil
1 large onion (any colour), diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 bay leaves
sea salt and black pepper
1 red capsicum (bell pepper), roughly chopped
680g (24 ounces) cherry tomatoes, halved or roughly chopped (or 1 can diced tomatoes)
450g (1 pound) green or yellow beans, trimmed and snapped in half
250g cooked cannellini beans or chickpeas (from 1 x 400g / 13.5 oz can)
1 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 cup green olives, pitted and sliced
handful roasted slivered or sliced almonds
chopped parsley, to top
Place a large Dutch oven or pot on medium heat and add the onions, garlic, bay leaves and a big pinch of sea salt. Cook for about 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened. Add the capsicums (bell pepper) and cook, stirring occasionally, until they have softened, another 6-8 minutes. Add the tomatoes and stir. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 18 - 20 minutes, until the mixture is soft and jammy. Stir the tomatoes well to break them up.
Add the green beans and cannellini beans or chickpeas to the tomatoes along with the sugar and smoked paprika. Season well with salt and black pepper, and stir to combine. Increase heat to medium, cover, and cook until the beans are tender, about 15-20 minutes. You can cook the beans longer if you prefer them softer.
Add the olives and toss. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding more sugar, salt and pepper as needed.
To serve, top with almonds and parsley.
Serving suggestion: eat with bread, rice or pasta.
To Vegetables, With Love is my love letter to vegetables and it is a joy to bring you a new recipe every week. Thank you to everyone who subscribes, especially to paid subscribers who make this work possible.
Stewed beans… yes please! Yum.
I made the stewed beans for lunch today and it was simply DELICIOUS. We absolutely loved it. I forgot to buy olives so I put capers instead as a topping and it worked super well too. This recipe will be on heavy rotation in our household this fall 🩷