Mediterranean Savor: White beans stew with spinach and rice.

The small white beans are a part of several of my recipes for autumn and winter seasons.

Its savor is very smooth and its texture, once cooked, is creamy, and besides, they are easily digested. Nutritionally, they stand out by their richness in protein, their high iron content and help to keep a blood glucose level healthy.

By combining them with brown rice, we have a dish with a high protein value. And with the spinach, rich in vitamins and minerals, above all, in iron, we give it, in addition to a touch of color, a high nutritional value.

Preparation:

In a 3-liter saucepan:

• Beans, like all dried legumes, are soaked overnight to rehydrate them. Next day, in a saucepan we put the beans, one large onion, a couple of bay leaves, one dried chili pepper (or more, as desired) and fill with cold water, cover and when it comes to a boil, add a pinch of sea salt (to taste) and reduce heat. 

• When the beans are tender, with the help of a skimmer and a fork, mash some beans to give a thicker texture to the stew and stir.

• Add a coffee cup of brown rice (brown rice needs almost an hour of cooking; that´s why we add it, more or less, in the middle of cooking the stew).

• Add the spinach, previously picked over and washed, (I use sea salt and vinegar to clean) when the stew is cooked because the time it needs is very little.

Ingredients (serves 4):

200 g small dried white beans,
170 g  spinach  (once picked over and washed),
1 large onion,
2  bay leaves ,
1 dried  chili pepper  (to taste),
1 coffee cup  brown rice 
and sea salt (to taste)

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