I ♥ FETA!!
And…. I’m starting to like beans. But only certain ones… not the nasty ones! Let’s just make that very clear. However, in an effort to expand the repertoireof recipes I make I happened upon this one. Once again, I was a sucker for marketing. Yup, the pretty picture in the cookbook sucked me in! Reading through the ingredient list it sounded pretty simple and non yucky (even with the beans). I mean, how can you go wrong with yummy, tangy, creamy feta cheese? You can’t! So I tried it out and had it for dinner as hubby is at some Darts and Snooker night (weird British Pub thing… don’t ask). Anywho… it was super delish and very filling! I find beans in general kind of confusing… especially over here in England as sometimes they are called something different. So, I just looked at the picture in the cookbook and tried to match it to one of the cans in the local Sainsbury. Turns out I used butter beans… they were good even plain! I may be converted yet!
The recipe is from the book Good Cooking, The New Basics by Jill Dupleix. So far, everything I’ve tried out of this book has been awesome! The little trivia portion of the recipe says that the traditional beans to be used are dried gigantes(What the heck is that? Sounds a bit scary!). It then goes on to say that since those beans need overnight soaking (too much work for me) you can use canned jumbo lima (hurl!), cannellini (um ok) or red kidney beans (shudder unless they are in chili). I (as you can read above) just matched the pictures like a 3 year old would. And I’m glad I did!
This recipe is both South Beach and WW friendly (ballpark @ 5 pts per serving, but you can get it lower)… it can be made more so by halving the amount of olive oil and replacing with cooking spray… you can also use low fat feta and replace the sugar with a sweetener.
Here is the recipe:
Greek Bean Stew with Feta
Source: Good Cooking, The New Basics by Jill Dupleix
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 onion, peeled (dur? why do they put that on there? Like you’re going to cook the onion in it’s skin whole? eww!)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for serving
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed (I minced mine up with the knife)
- 14 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons minced parsley
- 2 tablespoons minced dill
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon sugar (you can replace with a sweetener I would think if you are carb counting, although I don’t think 1 tbs will kill you)
- 3 cups canned beans
- 4 oz feta cheese
How to pull it all together:
- Halve and finely slice the onion. Heat olive oil in a heavy pan and fry the onion until soft but not browned.
- Add the garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, and 2 cups water.
- Stir in bay leaves, parsley, half the dill, the sea salt, pepper, paprika, and sugar, bring to a simmer.
- Simmer, partially covered, until nice and thick, 20-30 minutes. Drain and rinse beans, then add them to the stew and simmer gently for 10 minutes longer.
- Rinse the feta cheese (I didn’t do this), pat dry, and cut into chunky cubes. Add to the pan and simmer until the cheese is soft, about 5 minutes.
- Serve in small bowls, drizzled with a little extra olive oil (I didn’t do this either) and sprinkled with the remaining dill. Serve hot or room temperature, with some warm flat bread and a Greek salad.
I’m making this tomorrow. Will let you know what I think!
I’ve made this few years ago (Jill’s recipe was in the British food magazine Delicious), both with canned beans and dried beans. Both were lovely, but the dish made with dried beans (after soaking and cooking, of course :)) had a lot better texture.
Lovely dish, overall..