As a kid I never had much of an issue with most vegetables. Asparagus: sure; broccoli: yum; spinach: uh, Popeye? I suppose when you have a German mother who enjoys delicacies such as red cabbage and sauerkraut, other things don’t seem so bad (if you’ve never experienced the process of cooking red cabbage, trust me on this one).
I wanted to make a green salad with white beans this weekend, but couldn’t come up with the right inspiration. Every where I looked for inspiration just took me down a different path for a latter potential recipe. I still haven’t come up with one but in the meantime I found this to tide me over. The ingredient list is short, the recipe is simple and mixes green with bean, technically.
Feel free to try a different kind of white bean.
8 ounces cannellini beans; cooked and drained
4 ounces green beans; picked and cut in half
3 tablespoons oil
1 onion; shopped
2 celery stalks; chopped
1 garlic clove; minced
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 pound spinach
salt and pepper to taste
Boil the green beans in boiling salted water for 3 minutes then immediately drain and dump in ice-cold water. Drain and pat dry. Sweat the onions and celery in a large pan with the oil for a few minutes. Add the garlic and paprika, continuing to sweat until the onions are soft. Add the spinach, cover and cook until spinach wilts. Note: if you picked a pan that’s not quite large enough, be sure to stir the spinach occasionally.
Add the beans along with 1/2 cup of water and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve and enjoy.
Tags: spinach, vegetarian, white bean