Bean Stew with Greens
Depending on how much time I’ve got, the beans are either dried (preferred!) or from a can (realistic!). But regardless, they are cooked in lots of olive oil with whatever combination of fried onions, shallots and garlic I have on hand (I’m big into the “and” here). I might add some tomato paste or a few anchovy fillets, but here, I’m adding harissa, which I like to caramelize in the olive oil just as I would tomato paste, and some fresh or preserved lemon. If you want the spiciness but aren’t stocking harissa paste, red-pepper flakes, a little bit of cumin and a tablespoon or two of tomato paste will get you close.
From there, I simmer everything in chicken broth because it’s what I keep around. (You can use vegetable broth if you are vegetarian or vegan.) The final texture of this dish can be soupy or stewlike, depending on how much you cook down the beans — I like to sort of smash them with the back of a wooden spoon, encouraging their creamy interior to thicken the broth.
Once the beans are as soupy or stewy as I please, I add an entire bunch of broccoli rabe or kale, which I always have in my refrigerator because I love my dark leafy greens in any and all applications. Whatever I’m working with, I strip the leaves from the stems, chop the stems and add them to the beans as they simmer. I toss in the leaves at the very end, just to wilt them down.
This satisfyingly creamy bean stew is lovely and perfect all on its own, but you can also garnish it like a bowl of chili. I won’t go so far as to say that it’s a fridge clean-out free-for-all, but I do use this as an opportunity to use up the last of that odd bit of feta or pecorino, whatever fresh herbs I have lingering (parsley, cilantro, mint, dill), and sometimes that last egg (fried and crispy, or medium-boiled and sliced, please).
