Vegan Beans and Greens

Since there is no cheese in this dish, the flavor comes from caramelized onions and a hearty vegetable stock. Yet it still makes for a satisfying and filling meal!

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Diet Gluten Free, Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword 15 minute meals

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 10

Servings

Calories 166kcal

Author Agile Test Kitchen

Equipment

1 wooden spoon or heat safe spatula
1 5 qt Dutch oven or large stock pot

Ingredients

½ lb escarole chopped into 2" pieces, washed and spun dry
1 Tb olive oil I use extra virgin
1 ea small onion, diced into ¼"-½" or about ½ c diced onion
1 clove garlic minced or put through the garlic press
½ teaspoon salt or to taste I use pink Himalayan salt
¼ teaspoon red chili flakes aka Italian dried red peperoncino flakes
½ c vegetable stock
½ can cannelini beans rinsed and drained

Instructions

Wash and spin dry the escarole leaves. Dice the onions and mince the garlic.
Heat the olive oil over medium high heat in a large Dutch oven or stock pot. I used a 5 qt Dutch oven.
Add the onion, stirring occasionaly until browned on the edges. This can take 4-5 minutes.
Add the garlic, salt, and red chili flakes. Stir for about 15-30 seconds until fragrant.
Deglaze the pot by adding vegetable stock. Scrape up any browned bits (fond) that have accumulated in the pan with a wooden spoon or heat safe silicon spatula. This will take about a minute or two.
Add the escarole leaves to the pan. Stir what you can. There will be so many leaves that it may be difficult to stir. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then go back in the pot and stir. Then cover and cook for another couple minutes until the greens are still crunchy but tender.
Add the beans to the pot and stir gently. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes to warm through.
Taste for seasoning. Depending on how salty your canned beans and vegetable stock are, you may need to add more to taste.

Notes

1. This makes 2 servings with ½ a can of beans. For two people with a side of hearty sourdough toast, it makes enough food for a meal. The recipe can be doubled for leftovers the next day.

2. I use extra virgin olive oil to cook with in this recipe. There are some that contend the smoke point is lower on extra virgin olive oil and creates harmful free radical chemical compounds upon heating. Some extra virgin olive oil, however, do have high smoke points. Read more in this post about olive oil.

Nutrition