Bean and kale stew

Fall is finally here and with it, soup weather! I love making soup and it’s a great way to use up the random bits of veggies we have left over from the Community Supported Agriculture program. Tonight, I made a stew with pinto beans, kale and pork – tasty and chock full of veggies. We’ve been working on using meat as more of a seasoning that the main focus of meals, which helps increase our veggie intake by default.

Start with 1 pound of dry beans, soaked overnight. For the meat component of the stew, today I used three lean pork chops (9 oz) cut into cubes but you could also use chicken or sausage. Sear the meat with cooking spray or a little olive oil, until the meat is browned on both sides. You don’t need to cook it through, as it will finish cooking in the stew, but the browning add lots of flavor to the meat itself and the little bits of meat and caramelization on the bottom pot add flavor to the veggies that come next.

Remove the meat from the pan and then add the diced veggies: 1 onion, 4 stalks celery, 1 bell pepper and a couple of cups of carrots (I used a small bag of baby carrots).

Saute the veggies until the onions are translucent and start to brown. If things start to stick, use a little vegetable or chicken stock to loosen things up and stir the browned bits up from the bottom of the pan. At this point, add garlic powder (1 tsp), fresh ground pepper (1 tsp) and a stalk of rosemary. I leave the rosemary on the stalk and just remove the stalk at the end of cooking, rather than pulling the leaves off the stem and chopping them. Add the meat back to the pot, as well as the beans and enough chicken or vegetable stock to cover the beans (approximately 6 cups for me today).

Bring the whole pot to a boil and reduce to simmer. Allow it to simmer for 30 minutes before adding the greens. We used kale today because we had a gorgeous bunch from our Community Supported Agriculture basket. Tear the greens into bite size pieces and add to the pot to simmer for another 30 minutes.

Isn’t this gorgeous kale!

It turned out really satisfying and comforting, definitely a keeper! You could sub in whatever dry beans you had (or rinsed canned beans, which would make this come together quickly), sausage or chicken for the pork and spinach or other greens for the kale. Flexible recipes like this are really helpful for using the freshest ingredients you have on hand and getting something quick and healthy on the table for your family.  It also freezes really well for future meals!

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