You can keep your pumpkin spice (and please enjoy), but my idea of Fall is soups and stews. Hearty, but not heavy, this white bean and fennel stew ticks off all the boxes. Intricately flavored in a beautifully balanced way, but rich with creamy white beans, and SUPER easy and quick to make.
I had planned to make this for a casual dinner get together. The idea got shut down because it sounded boring. When I made it for another day I believe there was some surprise as to how elegant it really could be.
The real secret to making soupy beans is to use dried beans. I will admit that I am now a very excited owner of an Instant Pot. Please, do not roll your eyes at me, because you KNOW that as much as I adore kitchen gear I tend to side eye gimmicky gadgety things. If you have been living under a culinary rock lately let me explain that the Instant Pot has the potential for 7 different functions, pressure cooker, rice cooker, slow cooker, sautee, yogurt maker, steamer and warmer. To be honest, I sort of feel like they have pushed the envelope on this a bit. Be that as it may, I think this is thing is great. The pressure cooker is clearly my new best friend when it comes to cooking grains, but it really shines with beans.
The Magic of Dried Beans
If you have ever cooked beans from their dried state you know that it can take many many (I mean many) hours of soaking and simmering. All fine and good on wash day when you are around the house dodging in and out of the kitchen from time to time. Personally, I hardly ever remember to soak my beans which means even long simmering on top of the stove. Usually this means that I am known to rely on canned beans. Canned beans are my savior, and I have absolutely no attitude about them, nope, not one single bit. Though honestly, the taste and texture of freshly cooked beans is far far superior, like angels singing from on high superior. It’s the bean “liquor” from the cooking process that is the real win here. There is some sort of magic that gets exuded into that bean water. Just heavenly….
I have a large pressure cooker that I purchased years ago. I hardly ever use it, mostly because of the size. The time it takes to build up the pressure is irritating. I remembered this when I purchased my new Instant Pot. I opted for the 6 qt version ($79), which I feel is great for cooking for 2-4 people. If you are cooking for more the larger is well worth it. The pot comes to pressure faster when it’s fuller, but I don’t usually cook more than 4-6 cups of rice (saving for 2-3 days in the future), which is too little for my larger pot.
I don’t mean to make this an ode to the Instant Pot, except that it did make my some really yummy beans. I used the sautee setting to cook the aromatics, and then dumped the beans and water on top and pressure cooked it all together. So that is pretty dang cool. Oh, and did I mention that the cooking time for the beans was 25 minutes. Hardly the many minutes of stove top cooking, (remember the many many’s??). If you are not into pressure cooking, please go ahead and use some canned beans. Also quite delicious and the cooking time is even further reduced.
Oh! and of course! Do not forget a crusty, toasty piece of sourdough bread. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups sliced fennel, from one medium sized bulb
- 2 cup dried cannellini beans or 2 cans precooked beans, drained and rinsed
- 6 cups water for the dried beans, 4 cups water with the cooked beans
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 3-5 cups rough chopped spinach
- a generous squeeze of lemon right before serving
Instructions
Instant Pot version:
On the saute setting, cook the onions, garlic and fennel for 3-4 minutes to soften, but not brown.
Add the beans, water and bay leaves. Set the Instant Pot to pressure cook on high for 25 minutes.
After releasing the steam add the salt, pepper flakes and spinach. The heat in the beans will cook the spinach to perfection.
Portion out to serving bowl and finish off with a squeeze of lemon.
Traditional version:
In a medium large pot sautee the onions, garlic and fennel for 3-4 minutes (no I do not use oil, but a small amount is fine here).
Add the beans, water and bay leaves and simmer for 15 minutes- longer if you like, just keep and eye on the water level.
Add the salt and pepper and stir in the spinach until just wilted. Serve in bowls with a squeeze of lemon.