Years ago I made a random white bean side dish that I left on the hot plate to stay warm for Shabbat dinner. When I was ready to serve the dish the liquid had mostly evaporated and I feared a disaster in front of a table full of hungry guests. Turned out to be the best dish on the table. I love happy accidents, they lead to the best recipes.
This recipe is perfect on a cold winter night when all you want is something hot, soothing and full of flavor, this concentrated bean stew totally does the trick. The secret is the sun-dried tomatoes. The longer they sit the more they infuse the stew with a salty, umami rich flavor you will want to savor. And let’s face it, we can all use a bit of sun in December.
Since the time of my happy accident I have played around a bit, adding chicken, using different kinds of greens and other flavorings, but my favorite is still the original “mistake” recipe from a few years ago. Combine any hearty winter greens, white cannellini beans, rosemary, lots of garlic and sun dried tomatoes. You can use chicken or vegetable stock or water and cook for at least an hour and simmer for up to 3 hours on low. Pure comfort!
By the way, one of my favorite books is Comfort Me With Apples from Ruth Reichl and that inspired the title, anyone else read it?
Anyways, here is my recipe for an amazing bean stew, Chard and White Bean Stew Recipe, now keep browsing on some other comforting bean stew recipes you might just be craving right about now.
Mazel tov! Your post made it into my edition of a blog carnival: http://foodiscoveryblog.blogspot.com/2014/01/foodiscovery-presents-batya-medads.html
Wonderful accident! Can’t wait to try this !
You are so lucky, I dont ever have happy accidents, mine are always catastrophes. This looks so good!
Love this recipe and the story behind it. What a great idea to add sun dried tomatoes to the stew . Brilliant!
This looks amazing, I love accidents that yield such delicious results!
This looks very comforting! IT’s really quick too which I love.
Thanks for letting me know, would love to know your changes.
Tamar, I made this for dinner last night with some minor modifications. It was delicious! Thank you for the recipe.
Funny, I made that same mistake once with my bean soup and my new son-in-law said “oh cholent” how delicious! It really does intensify the flavors. This is my kind of comfort food.
Looks hearty and healthy. Thanks!
That looks really amazing! And it’s bariatric friendly as well! I’m glad your happy accident happpened!
I love the creaminess of a perfectly cooked white bean… often perfected in stew. The addition of chicken is awesome, and sun dried tomatoes too… what’s not to be comforted by with this dish! This is going on my menu rotation!
I love this happy accident – love soup in the winter – and LOVE sun dried tomatoes. I add them to salads, to roast chicken but never to soup/stew what an awesome idea!