Serena Lee's Hearty Italian Bean Stew -

The lovely Serena Lee of Vegans of LDN has created a delicious end of summer stew; perfect for sharing with family and friends! Serena used her collection of Studio Blue, Studio Craft and Halo Speckle bowls to display her dish and home grown veggies!

Serves: 3 – Prep Time: 10 minutes – Cooking Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

Stew

1 medium onion – finely diced
2-3 garlic cloves (small)
2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 pinch of coarse salt
4 leaves of cavolo nero kale or 2 handfuls of supermarket-bought curly kale
1 tin of chopped tomatoes or 12-15 large cherry tomatoes
2 tins of borlotti beans in water – or two cups of soaked garden borlotti beans
1 teaspoon of vegetable stock (we like 9 Meals from Anarchy, as it doesn’t contain palm oil)
3 stems of fresh basil

Method

Stew

Pour the olive oil into a saucepan, and put it on a low heat. While the oil warms up, dice your onion finely (this is important as we want it to break down and release as much water as possible). Peel and chop your garlic cloves and let the onions and garlic lightly sauté in the oil. Keep an eye on the onion to make sure they don’t go brown.
Strip your kale of any stems, and either cut the leaves into 1cm chunks or loosely rip the kale by hand. Add the kale to the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes.
Add your soaked beans or your tinned beans to the pan (water included, if using tinned beans) and turn the heat up to medium-high.
Add a pinch of coarse salt and add the tinned tomatoes (juice included), or cut your cherry tomatoes in half and add them to the pan.
Add a teaspoon of vegetable stock.
Let everything cook for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. If you find that things are sticking, reduce the heat a little bit. Now is a good time to start preparing your flatbread.
Add your basil 5 minutes before you finish cooking in order to add an extra dimension to the dish.
Once you’ve finished cooking, remove from the heat and serve, either adding nutritional yeast, vegan cheese, chilli flakes or extra virgin olive oil.