Soups and Stews « anunrefinedvegan

Rice and Beans with Greens and Artichoke Hearts

Rice and Beans with Greens This is an extremely satisfying and flavorful play on one of my favorite – and classic – combinations: rice and beans. The basis for this is a recipe by Laura Ulm that is featured in her wonderful cookbook, Vegan YumYum. This was the first vegan cookbook I bought and I love everything about it: its compact size, the big photos (she takes her own), the inventiveness of the recipes…I highly recommend getting a copy for yourself and also check out her blog, VeganYumYum (although it looks as if she hasn’t updated it in a while). There are lots of great recipes. Anyway, I started with her recipe (omitting the olive oil and pine nuts) and added some ingredients I love and which I thought complemented her original idea.

Rice & Beans with Greens & Artichoke Hearts
Serves 4

1 cup brown rice (cooked in a rice cooker, or on the stovetop)
1 large onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 or so of vegetable broth
1/2 cup oil-packed sundried tomatoes, rinsed, drained and blotted to remove excess oil and chopped
1 15-ounce can Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
1 15-ounce can artichoke hearts, chopped
2-3 tsp. Italian herbs (whatever you like: basil, thyme, rosemary; a mixture is nice)
2-3 generous handfuls of chopped Swiss chard, spinach or other quick-cooking green
Lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
salt & pepper to taste

Prepare the rice.

In a large skillet, saute the onions and garlic in the vegetable broth, letting the liquid cook off before adding more to prevent burning. Do this until the onions are tender. Add the herbs, salt & pepper, sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and beans, stirring gently to combine. Add a splash of vegetable broth if the mixture seems dry. When it’s heated through, put the greens on top of the bean mixture and cover with a lid. Allow the greens to wilt and then stir gently into the bean mixture.

To serve, ladle a nice, big scoop of brown rice into a bowl and top with another nice big scoop of the bean mixture. Using a microplane, zest the lemon on top of the bean mixture, sprinkle generously with basil and serve.

Goodbye, Basil

Fresh basil in a bag.

The night before we expected a hard frost, Kel picked as much basil as he could and sure enough, the frost wiped out nearly everything in the garden – including the Thai and Italian basil plants. Now the small bag of basil leaves we have left feels precious. Usually my grocery store doesn’t carry fresh basil and when it does it always looks a little worse for the wear, so during the winter we are deprived of basil’s summery, spicy tang. So right now we are especially appreciating the little bit Kel was able to salvage.

For lunch this afternoon we ate this easy and satisfying potato and corn chowder, topped with lots of fresh basil. This recipe, with minor tweaks, comes courtesy of Fat Free & Easy: Great Meals in Minutes, by Jennifer Raymond.

Potato and Corn Chowder
Serves 8

4 russet potatoes, peeled and diced (about 4 cups)
3 cups water or vegetable broth
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1-2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. salt
ground pepper to taste
1 4-ounce can diced green chiles
2 cups corn, frozen or fresh
1 cup soy milk (or more if soup is too thick)

Peel and dice the potatoes and put them in a large saucepan with the 3 cups vegetable stock or water. Cover and cook until tender, about 15-20 minutes.

Heat 1/2 cup of water or stock in a large soup pot and cook the onion, garlic and bell pepper for 5 minutes. Add the cumin, basil, salt and black pepper. Continue to cook until the vegetables are soft, another 5 minutes or so.

When the potatoes are tender, mash them right in the pot (do not drain) and combine them with the onion mixture. Add the green chiles, the corn and 1 cup of soy milk. Stir to blend. Add more soy milk or vegetable stock if the soup seems too thick. Heat through and serve topped with fresh basil and a dash of chipotle Tabasco sauce.

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Rice and Beans with Greens and Artichoke Hearts

Goodbye, Basil

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