Sunday, April 1, 2007

Baby Bella & White Bean Stew



Here is warm filling stew that uses a few of my favorite ingredients: couscous, crimini or baby bella mushrooms, spinach and loads of garlic. Because I usually have these things on hand, this is often on my hearth. I originally created this recipe when I pulled out another recipe and found that I had all of the wrong ingredients on hand! Some of my favorite recipes were born that way!


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

2 comments:

Vicky said...

This looks delicious. I'm looking forward to this new blog and seeing more of your recipes and food ideas.

Marcie said...

Vicky, Thanks for popping in. I'm trying now to write out a recipe for my Easter main dish - stuffed zucchini. I made it up as I went along, and now am trying to sum it all up in writing. Hope to post that later today. It was nice to hear from you! :)