How to make Tart London's summer butter bean stew

Jemima Jones and Lucy Carr-Ellison put a light summertime twist on butter bean stew
Tart London's summertime stew
Lucy Carr-Ellison13 June 2019

Farms, distributors, shops, supermarkets and ourselves at home: we all have a role to play in tackling the scourge of food waste.

Buying only what we need and buying seasonally are particularly important. We also advocate using misshapen potatoes, three-legged carrots and the like that generally go unsold, even though they’re perfectly good to eat. We use this surplus fruit and veg to make chutneys, jams and puddings. We also like using ingredients that don’t perish quickly, such as dried beans, grains, pulses and nuts, which we make into nourishing and delicious stews, curries and salads.

Dive in: the Tart girls test the waters on an Ibizan weekend

We recently worked with Refettorio Felix and Clos 19 on a supper club to generate media coverage and awareness of food waste and hunger. On the day of the event, we were presented with wonky vegetables and leftover produce and asked to create a menu from them. This was such an inspiring and wonderful job to work on, as it helped us to step out of our comfort zones.

This recipe was one of the dishes from the night: a wholesome stew made from dried butter beans. It’s our idea of heaven for a weekday veggie dinner and the beans are both high in protein and fibre and low in fat. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation says beans are also ‘climate smart’ because they are drought resistant and can help restore degraded soils. If you have the time it’s really worth the effort to cook your own beans at home as they’re much tastier (and cheaper) than their canned counterparts. They need to be soaked overnight and then simmered for a few hours, but of course, if you want an express meal, then canned will do.

Summer butter bean stew

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the stew

1 red onion, finely chopped

3 bay leaves

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

½ tsp chilli flakes

1 tbsp thyme leaves

2 sprigs of sage, leaves finely sliced

1 tsp dried oregano

150ml white wine

200ml stock

1 tsp paprika

1 tin (400g) of chopped tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp sugar

400g cooked butter beans (either canned or home cooked), drained

For the breadcrumbs

80ml olive oil

100g stale sourdough, blitzed to breadcrumbs

2 tbsp chopped almonds

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 sprig of rosemary, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 unwaxed lemon, zested

For the topping

100g crumbled feta

Small bunch of parsley, roughly chopped

Recipe

In a large casserole dish, sauté the onions, garlic, dried chilli and herbs with plenty of olive oil over a medium heat for around 10 minutes, until they begin to caramelise and completely soften.

Add the wine, stock, tinned tomatoes and tomato paste, paprika and sugar, and simmer for an hour.

In this time, prepare the breadcrumbs by heating olive oil in a frying pan, then adding breadcrumbs and turning in the rosemary, garlic, chilli and almonds, plus some salt and pepper.

Take off the heat and add the lemon zest, and keep warm. When the stew has simmered for an hour, add the beans and cook for a further 20 minutes before finishing with a squeeze of lemon.

Serve in bowls with crumbled feta and the breadcrumbs, plus some chopped parsley.

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