The Elegant Bouquet

Italian Bean and Vegetable Stew topped with Pistou Dressing

This  bean and vegetable stew takes it’s influence from Northern Italy. The dressing of the garlic and basil Pistou sauce adds a touch of elegance to this somewhat rustic dish. I cook this stew in a big pan on my range but it cooks just as well with gas or electricity powered cookers.

Ingredients – Pistou Dressing

• 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• handful of basil leaves
• 6 cloves of garlic

Ingredients – Stew

• 1 medium sized onion
• 1 medium sized bulb of fennel
• 2 courgettes
• 400 grams tin of kidney beans
• 150 grams of green stick beans
• 400 grams tin of cannellini beans
• 170 grams of parmesan cheese
• 200 grams of new potatoes
• 3 tomatoes
• 60 grams of dry spaghetti
• 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• large sprig of thyme
• 1.75 litres of vegetable stock
• Coarse Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method – The Bean and Vegetable Stew

Use a large saucepan with a lid. heat the oil in the saucepan on a medium heat.

Peel and finely chop the onions, cut the fennel into quarters and slice thinly, and halve and thinly slice the courgettes. Add the onions, fennel and courgettes to the hot oil and fry off for about 10 minutes to get them browned.

Add the vegetable stock to the saucepan along with the sprig of thyme and bring to the boil. Dice the new potatoes and peel and dice the tomatoes. Add the potatoes and tomatoes to the saucepan. Cover the saucepan with the lid and simmer gently for around 15 minutes.

Drain and rinse the red kidney beans and cannellini beans and add these to the saucepan. Put the lid back on the saucepan and keep simmering for another 15 minutes.

Chop the green stick beans into inch long pieces and break the spaghetti up into similar length pieces. Add the green beans and spaghetti to the saucepan and cook until the spaghetti is softened, check after 10 minutes.

Take the saucepan off the heat but keep the lid on while you prepare the Pistou sauce.

Method – The Pistou Dressing

Always make this sauce just before serving for the best results.

Peel and roughly chop the garlic. Put the garlic and the basil leaves in a small food processor and pulse it to start. Add the oil and blend as normal.

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To Serve

Serve the soup in individual bowls. Freshly grate the Parmesan cheese. Add a good sprinkling of the Parmesan cheese and a generous swirl of the pistou sauce to the top of the soup.

Enjoy!

About the Author

My son is off to college soon so I have been checking out the best laptops for college, an all one laser printer and broadband companies to get the best deals for him.

He will be able to access all of my recipes online and cook them for himself.

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