Mediterranean Savor: Vegetable stew

Vegetable stew is one of the most typical dishes of spring because the new seasonal vegetables like peas, snow peas (mangetout) or artichokes arrive at the markets.         

My mother asked the greengrocer to clean and pick over a selection of mixed vegetables and in this way, she saved time on preparing the vegetable stew.

Today, in general, in all shops they prepare mixed vegetables beforehand, clean and chopped.

Preparation of Vegetable stew:

 

Cover the bottom of a saucepan with extra virgin olive oil and heat. Firstly, sauté one onion, finely chopped and then add some cloves of garlic, chopped. Stir and let it make on a low heat.

Then, add the different ingredients by degree of hardness: first, the hardest ones like pumpkin or carrot, to finish with the tenderest ones like spinach or lettuce.

This way of preparing the vegetables is very typical of Mediterranean cuisine, hence the concept of Mediterranean Savor.

As we add an ingredient, stir and let it sauté some minutes before adding the next one. Always keep on a low heat.

Ingredients used on this occasion:

extra virgin olive oil, garlic, broccoli, zucchini, pumpkin, onion, cabbage, cauliflower, wild asparagus, spinach, peas, green beans, leek, carrot and sea salt (to taste).

◼ Another recipe in which the vegetables are sautéed in their own juice is: 

>> Ratatouille of La Mancha

Mediterranean Savor: Combinations of pasta

◾  Sautéed spinach with pine nuts and raisins, served with pasta (fusilli).

◾  Spinach is cooked soon in a saucepan with a little water and salt (to taste) or steamed. In a skillet, first sauté in a little extra virgin olive oil the raisins and pine nuts (or almonds, according to what you have on hand) and then add spinach (once cooked and drained), stir and ready to serve.

◾  Other combinations:

Warm fusilli salad

Spaguetti

Golden noodle soup

Macaroni

Couscous tabbouleh

                    

Mediterranean Savor: White beans stew with spinach.

The white beans go very well with spinach, a rich source of vitamins and minerals.  

Preparation:             

• In a 3-liter saucepan put the beans (previously soaked overnight to rehydrate them), a large onion and add cold water, cover. Bring the water to a boil, add a dash of sea salt (to taste) and let it simmer.

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

• When they are cooked, add the spinach, previously picked over and washed (to clean the spinach, I use sea salt and vinegar).

• In a skillet lightly fry some cloves garlic, thinly sliced: add the garlic stir-fry to the saucepan, stir. And serve.

Accompany the dish by a large slice of whole-wheat bread; this way, we have a dish with a high nutritional value.    

Ingredients (Serves 4): 

200 g dried white beans; 
170 g  spinach  (once picked over); 
1 large onion; 
4 cloves garlic (to taste);
extra virgin olive oil ; 
sea salt (to taste).

>> see more stew recipes

                   

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)

 >> see more stew recipes