15-Minute One-Pot Easy Italian Butter Bean Stew
My daughter is my angel eater. She will literally try any food (as a baby, she gave sauerkraut a go, as a toddler she had her first bite of octopus in a market in Italy). My son… well, it depends what day you catch him on. Some days, he is just as amazing an eater. But he does that super annoying kid thing. You know the one. Where they eat something happily for dinner, then when you offer exactly the same meal for lunch the next day, it ain’t happening.
He’ll push the food away and say: “somekin’ else”. And then there’s a 20-minute negotiation to get him to take a bite.
My favourite/not-favourite bit is when, 5 minutes later, my husband and daughter and I are chatting over our food about our day, and when we turn back to him, he has put away half the food he refused to eat 10 minutes earlier… *sigh*
Any other parent nodding their heads right now? It amazes me when his lunchbox comes back still full (minus the fruit), when all I put in it was leftovers of what he ate heartily a couple of nights ago.
Fortunately, there are some recipes he rarely seems to kick up any kind of fuss over. So far, despite serving this to him three times in as many weeks, this is one of them. The most I get is a “I don’t want it” when he’s eaten everything except a couple of onion slices and artichoke hearts.
And bonus, it takes 15 minutes, is a one-pot dinner, and is an #EatFromThePantry meal made almost entirely from tins and jars.
Minimum effort from me, minimum fuss from him, maximum nutrients for all. Hmm, maybe we’ll have it for a fourth week in a row…
An easy, 15-minute one-pot dinner made mostly from jars and tins you can keep on hand for an almost-instant meal when you've had one of *those* days. Gluten free, sugar free, vegetarian.
- 1 large (2 small) onion(s), finely sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 400g (14 oz) tin plum or chopped tomatoes
- 2 400g (14 oz) tins (or 500g/3 cups cooked) butter beans
- handful of roughly chopped sundried tomatoes
- couple of handfuls of pitted green olices
- a few drained artichoke hearts, chopped
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- a couple of handfuls of young kale leaves, roughly chopped (optional)
- handful of fresh basil leaves
- generous helping of freshly grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese (leave out for vegan)
- squeeze of lemon juice
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Fry the onion in a good glug of olive oil for 5 minutes over low heat until just going golden and well softened (add the minced garlic for the last minute), then add the plum or chopped tomatoes and half a tin of water, the butter beans, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, artichoke hearts, oregano and kale leaves. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes until thickened and heated through. Top with fresh basil leaves, a generous helping of fresh grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese and a squeeze of lemon juice. Take it further by adding cooked pork: crispy bacon bits, cooked sliced sausages and chorizo all go really well here.
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