New Year, New Food - White Bean Stew with Rosemary, Garlic and Farro

The New Year brings new things to do and try for the upcoming year.  Plans are made, and fresh starts are started.  In December I came across a cookbook that I decided I could not live without, and so I have purchased Cook This Now by Melissa Clark.  Not only have I fallen in love with the recipes in this cookbook, but I have decided like many others, to try and cook every recipe in the cookbook.  I love how it is divided into months.  Each month has a focus on foods which are available at that time of the year.  Not only will this widen my horizons with foods I would not have tried before now, but it is a challenge to see if I can attain the delicious flavors which come together in ways I have not tried.  So in reference to this so far wonderful cookbook, I will not be posting the recipes in this cookbook.  If you like what you see, I encourage you to also get the cookbook.  Happy New Year!  Happy Cooking!

Cook This Now 

White Bean Stew with Rosemary, Garlic and Farro

 

This recipe is a simple stew with tremendous flavors, which you might not think when you read the recipe or even if you taste it while it is cooking.  The key to this is not the stew itself, but the finishing pieces of olive oil, flaky salt, red pepper and parsley.  These finishing ingredients make the stew what it is.

This recipe does take a while to cook, so prepare for it when you have a lot of time at home.  However, it does not require a lot of attention, so you do not have to be in the kitchen the entire time.  Plus, as it is simmering away it send delicious smells of garlic, onion, rosemary and thyme through the kitchen.  I let the stew simmer through the day as I intended to eat it for dinner instead of lunch, though it would have been ready earlier.  The only consequence was that the rosemary and thyme cooked off of their stems, but did not diminish from the flavor.  Also, note make sure if you are going to simmer all day that you will need to remove the onion, celery and garlic before they disappear into a mush that used to resemble what you put in the pot.

Cassoulet-Style Italian Sausages and White Beans

After not posting for a while, I am back and determined to keep this up with some regularity. Where have I been you might ask? I spent some time in Hong Kong, eating and relaxing. Then once I returned home, I decided that I better get in some training runs for my up and coming races. With one half marathon completed yesterday in the drizzle and 39F once I returned to the car (and I have no idea how cold it was at the start), I thought I would take some recovery time to post. Thinking about protein and easy to prepare meals, this one is very good on both accounts.

Cassoulet-Style Italian Sausages and White Beans come from Pam Anderson's Perfect One-Dish Dinner and below is my version of it. This book contains meals which are easy to prepare with delicious results. I like to tweak things to make them to my tastes, so here is my version of it. The roasted sausage in the olive oil and balsamic vinegar is divine. Try it and enjoy!

1 pound spicy Italian sausage

1 pound cherry tomatoes

1 can diced tomatoes with onions and peppers

1 medium onion, cut into about 1 inch pieces

2 teaspoon diced garlic

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 ½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons dried thyme

2 bay leaves

3 canned white bean (I used great northern and pinto)

Preheat oven to 425F. Mix sausage pieces, tomatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, thyme, bay leaves and sprinkling of sea salt and freshly ground pepper in a roasting pan. Roast until sausages are brown and tomatoes have thickened. This takes about 30-40 minutes. Remove from oven, stir in white beans and roast until everything is heated through. Remove from oven, remove bay leaves and serve. Serves 6-8.