White Bean, Butternut Squash, Kale and Olive Stew

Chef #1365024's Note:

Hearty and healthful! This Italian-style stew fits a rainbow of vegetables into your everyday meals. Made with the convenience of protein-rich canned cannellini beans, it's a meal in a bowl. Just serve with crusty country bread.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 large onions, chopped
• 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes (3 1/4 to 3 1/2 pounds)
• 4 medium red bell peppers, seeded and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 cups canned vegetable broth
• 16 cups chopped kale, thick stems trimmed and leaves cut crosswise into 2-inch strips
• 1 tablespoon dried rubbed sage
• 3 (15 ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup canned black olives, pitted and halved*
• salt & fresh ground pepper, to taste
• freshly grated romano cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a heavy, large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onions, and sauté over medium heat until tender, about 5 minutes. Add butternut squash, bell peppers and garlic; sauté 10 minutes. Add broth; cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.
2. Add kale and sage; cover and cook until the kale wilts, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Add beans and olives, and stir until heated through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Transfer the stew to large, shallow bowl. Sprinkle generously with grated cheese, if desired.
4. *Note: Substitute Kalamata olives, sold at Greek and Italian markets and some supermarkets.
5. Servings: 8.
6. Nutritional Information Per Serving: Calories 390; Total fat 10g; Saturated fat 1.5g; Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 470mg; Carbohydrate 68g; Fiber 15g; Protein 14g; Vitamin A 840%DV; Vitamin C 470%; Calcium 35%DV; Iron 35%DV.
7. *Daily Value.

Reviews

[maize]

The idea for this recipe is good -- a hearty vegetable mix. But this recipe has some oddities. First of all note that it serves 8. Then look at the very weird proportions: the butternut squash is supposed to be 3 lbs, which is big for this type of squash. 4 medium red bell peppers seems a lot. But the 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth seems rather small, especially as this is supposed to be a Stew...! Finally, I cannot believe this calls for 16 (sixteen!) cups of chopped kale.

I used the idea of this recipe as a base and cut it down for 4 servings. I decided to also use brown sugar, fresh sage, Spanish paprika and some sweet curry. For 4 servings, I used 1 cup of broth. I served it on rice.