Winter is upon us! A great time for a vegetarian stew recipe including cannellini beans, pumpkin and leek. Particularly if you are still spending a majority of your working week at home.
Working from home can be great, but you might have noticed a reduction in your activity levels. You aren’t walking to and from the station, taking the stairs in the office or going for a walk at lunch time. Not to mention you are still near to the kitchen and the pantry, which I know from my own experience can be tempting.
This makes it the perfect time for a good hearty and healthy vegetarian stew recipe. This recipe is also full of great seasonal ingredients which should makes it easier at the supermarket and on the food budget.
During winter I love a great stew recipe, although this is a bit like a soup, full of flavour and guaranteed to leave me feeling full, but not bloated.
The good thing about this vegetarian stew recipe is
- you can easily adapt it you want to add some animal protein or some spice if you are that way inclined.
- It is packed full of fibre and vegetable protein. We all know how good these are at leaving you feeling full
- It is wallet friendly with its small list of ingredients. No need to go and buy a list of exotic ingredients you only use once.
- It is quick to make.
- Make more and freeze some portions
Before we get to the ingredients and instructions, I need to own up. I can’t claim this recipe as my own. The original was a Jamie Oliver recipe, but it doesn’t matter where it come from, it is good.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp oil
- 1 leek, washed and sliced thinly
- 500g pumpkin, skinned, deseeded and cut into 1 cm dice
- 2 x 425g cannellini beans
- 100g kale, spinach, silver beet
- Salt and cracked pepper
Method
- Place the oil and leeks in a medium sized saucepan and cook over a moderate heat for 3 minutes.
- Add half the pumpkin and stir to mix, reduce the temperature and cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes or until the pumpkin and leeks are soft.
- Add the beans and their liquid. You can use the tin to add more water to cover the ingredients and season lightly with salt and pepper.
- Cook the soup for a further 10 minutes, then add the remaining pumpkin and greens.
- Continue cooking the soup until the pumpkin is tender and slightly mushy.
- Using a potato masher lightly pound the soup so that some of the beans and pumpkin get lightly mashed. This will give the soup a better consistency.
- Adjust seasoning if necessary.
Add if you want to
- Cook some chicken breast and dice this to add to your stew
- Add some diced chili for a little it of heat (great on the cooler days)
Serve and enjoy
