Comforting spiced white bean and orecchiette stew

Recently I was looking to eat something hearty and comforting. Inspired by the amazing pasta soups at the bagel shops and cafés around here in New York, I was determined to bring together beans and pasta in a nutritious, soul-warming way. I took cues from our weekly vegetable delivery box with fresh leeks, spinach, carrot, and onion, then added in a couple of unconventional spices to make this a little special. Try this out for a weeknight dinner. It makes for great leftovers for lunch too!

Credit: Cara Livermore

• serves

  4-6

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  1:10 hour

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 leek, white part only, finely sliced
• 1 large carrot, diced (1 cup)
• 2 tsp rasam powder (see Note)
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 425 g tin organic crushed tomatoes
• 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 425 g tin white beans
• 1-2 cups orecchiette pasta
• 1-2 handfuls fresh spinach, de-stemmed and loosely chopped
• salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

Put a soup pot on medium heat and pour in the oil. Put the onion, garlic, leek and carrot into the pot. Let them cook down until the onions are translucent, about 5-10 minutes.

Add in the spices, tomato, and balsamic vinegar, and stir to combine.

Drain and rinse the beans, then add them into the pot along with the pasta. Add in enough water to thin everything out and cover the rest of the ingredients. The stew will thicken as everything cooks.

Turn the heat down to low and let it cook for about an hour until the pasta is soft but still has bite – this gives the best flavour. You could easily turn up the heat to medium to speed up the cooking time. About 5 minutes before serving, stir in the chopped spinach. Add salt and pepper to taste before serving. Enjoy!

Note

• If you can’t find rasam powder in a specialty store, a mildly spicy curry powder would also work.

Recipe from Hipster Food by Cara Livermore, with photographs by Cara Livermore.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.